Our Own Destinies
by kiboeme
Summary: Adapted from a roleplay between two friends. After they thought the battles had been fought and the war ended with his dying cries, the King of Darkness rises again with a new play. As he executes his insidious plan, something changes and the most dangerous paring of them all comes to fruition. Rated M for coarse language, and graphic violence, gore, and intimacy. ZelGan.
1. Aliaque

**The ****_Our Own Destinies_**** Official Music Playlist  
**Note:  
This playlist is constantly being updated and revised as more songs are found/remembered. It was crafted by finding songs of a wide variety of genres that reflect the themes, emotions, and general atmospheres of the fanfiction. Certain songs are associated with certain pieces of the fanfiction, some of them not yet published. Please enjoy trying to figure out what's going to happen based on these songs. They are arranged in no particular order.

* * *

_Turning Page  
_Sleeping At Last

_Cold Water_  
Damien Rice

_Every Time We Touch  
_Cascada

_Redemption_  
Muse

_You're The Storm_  
The Cardigans

_Sie Sieht Mich Nicht (She Just Doesn't See Me  
_Xavier Nadoo

_All of Me  
_John Legend

_Tale As Old As Time  
_Disney

_Once Upon A Dream_  
Lana Del Rey

_Wicked Game  
_Chris Isaak


	2. I

**_Update June 25: So apparently there were some issues when I copy-pasted this into the document and the whole first chapter was repeated! So I fixed that. Also noticed and rectified a few minor spelling errors here and there. Enjoy!_**

* * *

Princess Zelda swept off the ballroom dance floor with a pleasant smile and graceful step, both of which melted away the second she stepped off to reveal an exhausted and overheating young woman. She threw herself into a chair on the side of the room, drawing a delicately painted paper fan from the pocket of her dress and unfolding it to cool herself off. She pushed the opulent bird mask up her face just enough to wipe a bit of moisture from her nose and cheekbones.

Shortly after the princess seemed to have settled herself into the chair for a long stay, a young man dressed in simple finery and a plain white mask appeared at her side carrying a pair of drinks. He handed Zelda one, and she took the champagne gratefully.

"Thank you, Elliot," she said after taking a sip. The man smirked.

"You seemed hot and tired. I thought that I could help out some."

"Indeed," Zelda replied with humor. "Sometimes I find the diplomacy involved in dancing with foreign dignitaries more exhausting than the dancing itself." Elliot gazed down at his glass of light wine.

"The others in the council were foolish to believe that this petty ball would actually ensure the security of the people. Many did not even attend." Glancing up at Zelda, he could not help but regret his words when he noticed a gust of hope leave her. Zelda sighed and leaned back further in her chair.

"I had feared that would be the case. Hoped that it would not be, but feared it would all the same," she said with a slow shake of her head. "Why can we not all simply get along for once?" Elliot stared at her, shock fading in across his face.

"The moblins have already wiped out a quarter of the kingdom. To these people, concern from the court is expected to turn into urgency in no time. It isn't exactly irrational for the commoners and the nobles to evade our attempts to calm them."

Zelda sighed once again and stopped fanning herself for a moment to finish off her drink. "I am all too aware of the statistics and of what can be expected, Elliot," she replied dryly. "I can fantasize, can't I?"

"Forgive me if I lack the humor you're looking for, but I haven't had nearly enough wine to wash away my own concerns," Elliot retorted sharply. Pausing to realize his inappropriate attitude, he sighed and apologized. "I just can't imagine Hyrule ever surviving another attack like before—even if the Twili aren't involved any longer. With the number of moblins surrounding the borders, it's very possible that Hyrule could suffer equal or greater damages." Zelda nodded slowly.

"If only he hadn't vanished," she murmured to herself, too low for Elliot to hear her properly over the hubbub around them.

"That all may be so," she then said, louder, "but tonight is a night for gaiety and relief, not concern for the future." In a smooth movement filled with new energy and airiness, Zelda stood and held out her hand to her companion. "Shall we dance and make merriment?" Elliot seemed reluctant to take her hand and go out on the dance floor, but after a moment of coaxing he did. The two of them danced for only one song before Zelda detached herself from her partner and returned to the side of the room.

On his way to follow the princess, Elliot spotted a waiter carrying mixed drinks and lifted two off the platter as he passed. Handing Zelda one, he raised his glass. "Cheers."

Zelda took the drink with a brief nod of gratitude, then raised it as well. "To the hope of future prosperity and peace in Hyrule," she said solemnly as she clinked her class against his, then tipped it back for a sip. Elliot sipped his own and began walking with the princess by his side.

"I should be retiring soon…" Zelda nodded once in agreement.

"And I as well. It would not do for me to receive the rulers of Holodrum and Labyrnna tomorrow with yawns," she replied with a giggle. Downing his drink, Elliot nodded.

"Even I might scold you for your exhaustion—and you already get enough controversy from the other members of the council."

Zelda sighed and visibly rolled her eyes, a decidedly un-regal scowl on her face. "Do not even mention those foolish, sexist know-it-alls," she groaned. "Certainly, we worship three female creator goddesses and most famed rulers of history have been young princesses, but let us forget all of that and simply focus on the fact that Zelda was placed into a difficult situation and had to choose the lesser of two evils." Elliot cocked his eyebrow and interrupted her little fit.

"At least I'm not nearly as bad, am I?" He paused and looked off into space, trying to recall and make sure he hadn't said anything disrespectful lately. "But on some level they have a point. You can't rule on your own for thirty plus years—you will drive yourself into insanity." Zelda shook her head.

"No, you do no such thing, and yes, ruling on my own for a long period of time would most likely go to my head, but all the same…" she trailed off, trying to think of how to phrase her thoughts coherently. "They do not merely fight my right to the throne. They ferociously combat every decision and contribution that I may have to the ruling of Hyrule. Even when I have ideas that would truly benefit the people—including ones that may have avoided all of the international tension we are experiencing—the council utterly ignores me purely on the basis of my gender. It is so desperately infuriating." As the princess spoke, Elliot grabbed another drink and sipped as he listened. Becoming a little tipsy from the handful of drinks he had throughout the night, he tried to settle himself in an empty chair near to him. Zelda remained standing, gazing down at her friend with a soft and slightly sad smile.

"I wish that I could say I was proud of my leadership and the direction that Hyrule has taken since my father's passing, but I cannot. I also wish that I had more than mere responsibility binding me to my duties as princess, for then maybe I would not feel so tempted to just give up," she sighed.

"Ze—er, Princess, don't give up when your kingdom needs you most. I'll speak with the council tomorrow while you meet the dignitaries and see what I can do. Now, you should go get some rest." His speech was a little slurred, but he managed to talk, even while guzzling another drink.

The Princess chuckled and nodded a few times as she carefully removed her feathered bird mask. "I will. You, too, should get some sleep, and stop drinking as well," she added, then proceeded to snatch the drink away from his lips with a light frown. She set the half-empty glass beside her mask on the table with a firm clink. Elliot glared at her for a moment before sighing heavily.

"Alright, alright." He stood and patted Zelda's shoulder as he left, mumbling "G'night" as he passed her by. Zelda looked slightly startled by the friendly pats, but recovered quickly.

"Goodnight, my friend," she said before heading to her own quarters, undressing, and collapsing into her much-welcome bed.

Only a few hours passed before, late into the night, noises of muffled struggling and quenched screams made their way to Zelda's ears. The Princess normally slept quite deeply, unable to be woken by much other than flames or the morning sun, but that night, for whatever reason, Zelda suddenly found herself lying awake in bed and listening to what seemed to be a fight right outside her door. With concern and a touch of fear, Zelda rose from her bed and lit a candle on the wardrobe before making her way to the door with small, slow, and uncertain steps. Her feet felt cold against the stone floor, but their tops suddenly warmed from somebody nearby. The screams suddenly silenced, and in the heavy silence Zelda's heartbeat was loud.

"Foolish child… what ever made you think you would actually prevail over me?" The voice was smooth, deep, and its low tone mocked the Princess with the way it was spoken. A heavily armored and muscular arm slid around Zelda's stomach and pressed her against the figure speaking from behind, the arm as hard as the body she was trapped by. She froze, every muscle and nerve tense and alive with panic. "No matter how weak I might seem, I will always be stronger than you and your petty kingdom. Tread lightly and I may allow you to survive, but fight me and I will kill you just as brutally as the guards outside of your door." Zelda focused on keeping her breathing steady and heart rate as slow as it could become, determined to show the intruder no fear despite his horrifying words. She knew exactly who held her, and he could turn anything against her.

"Tell me, Princess, what would you miss more: your hands, or your feet? Or would you prefer to watch as the last of your people die?"

"I will never merely watch my people die," she insisted, her voice as calm and determined as his. The figure cracked a devilish smirk and quickly unsheathed his sword, gently pressing the tip of it to the princess' throat.

"You must think you are honorable, putting your life on the line for your father's kingdom." He chuckled darkly and pushed his sword deeper into her neck, just enough to create a tiny cut and draw blood. "I can tell you exactly what your people think of you: pathetic." He paused, bringing his voice down to a whisper. "You could never protect Hyrule. Just look at yourself, trapped by your greatest enemy in your very own chambers."

Zelda swallowed uncertainly, wincing as the movement of her throat caused the sword tip to push deeper into her skin. He was right. "Not honorable," she corrected him, "just responsible. Responsible for what happens to my kingdom and my people."

Suddenly, the sound of banging came from the door. Guards trying to get in. The pressure of the man's arm and chest suddenly disappeared as he vanished into the darkness. Zelda whirled, trying to get a glimpse of him before he had totally vanished, but saw nothing but the two golden rings of his eyes fading into a strange cloud of thick black smoke. "Do not be publicly wary of me and tell no one of my presence here, or they too will die." Then he was gone.

Zelda put her hand up to her throat, where the wound from his sword was still trickling blood.

"One moment, please," she called to the guards pounding on her door, her voice tremulous. She quickly snatched a dark hair ribbon from her cabinet and tied it loosely around her neck to cover the cut, then took a brief moment to straighten out her hair and nightgown before she threw on her robe and unlocked the door.

"What is the problem?" she asked the quartet of guards assembled outside of her door in the calmest voice she could muster.

"Princess, you have to evacuate the castle," one of them said urgently. "The guards are dropping like flies left and righat and we haven't so much as spotted the killer. Those who attended the late extensions of the ball have also vanished, and we cannot find a single member of the council. You need to leave with us immediately. There is no time for packing."

She took in the guard's information with horror and surprise, then nodded once to show that she heard and understood. She did not trust herself to speak at the moment. She tied the belt of her robe tightly, then followed the guards to wherever was considered 'safe'. The four guards rushed her through the halls and down several cases of stairs until they had reached the main doors. The heavy wooden planks were already open, with guards running back and forth in every direction in search of the enemy the Princess was already certain of. She was lead outside and placed into the carriage with two guards and another young man. Zelda's Hero.

"Princess," he bowed his head. "I'm glad to see you got out safely." Zelda offered him a curt nod.

"Thank you," she said quietly. She wanted to say so much more, ask Link where he had been and why he had disappeared for several months on end, but she did not trust herself to speak much more. If the guard had been correct in saying that the council was gone, Zelda was the sole authority Hyrule had left. She had to remain strong, even if no one but Link and the guards would see her break down here in the carriage. She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Do you know what is happening?" she asked Link, hoping that his experiences could offer some insight.

Link shrugged a little, biting his lip before he spoke. "I got here no more than an hour ago. Apparently the council was taken first by some dark creatures. Not the same type as the armies have been seeing on the battlefields—" so that was where he had been. But why did he not tell her?—"but more like some of the smaller Twilght shadow creatures." He paused to swallow the lump in his throat. "Afterward, we started noticing the guards dropping, some missing their hands, feet, or even their head. We couldn't see who or what was doing it, much less attack them. They were like air, and anyone who tried to approach the area we though they were in lost their head.

"We thought we could fix it at first," he sighed, "but once we discovered the disappearance of all the ball attendants, we knew we had no other choice but to get you out and find someplace safe to hide you."

"Is it the Twilight again?" Zelda asked, her concern rising at the very thought. If there were Twilight Beasts attacking again, it meant that something had happened to Midna. And with the creatures more clever and skilled than ever, that meant a force far more powerful than Zant or Ganondorf had to be behind them. Hyrule had barely survived the first war with the Twilight, and Zelda herself technically hadn't at all. How could they possibly hope to combat an even more powerful foe?

"Princess, relax," Link interrupted, stopping Zelda's panic in its tracks. "We believe that it's the Gerudo people, though we aren't positive. I didn't think they looked so much like the Twili, but more like you or I. Still, they just faded like shadows, untouchable by any of our weaponry."

Zelda looked at the Hero with confusion. "The Gerudo? But they have not interfered with Hyrule for over a hundred years with the exception of one mean. Why suddenly launch an attack directly on the castle?" Link sighed and gave her a sad look.

"I wish I knew why. I thought that the time of war was over."

"As did I," Zelda murmured. She gave a sidelong glance to the two guards that had gotten into the carriage with her and Link. "Guards," she said suddenly, "please exit the carriage."

They looked up at the Princes. "But Your Magesty, we are leaving soon."

"I must discuss something confidential with Sir Link," she told them. "If you have any concerns for my security, you know well that I am more than safe with him." They both nodded and exited the carriage obediently. Link returned his attention from the door to the Princess and shifted a little in his seat. Zelda firmly closed the door behind the guards before turning back to the Hero.

"Link, I tell you this with the upmost confidentiality. I trust that this will not exit the carriage, as I was heavily threatened if I spoke of this with anyone."

Link furrowed his brown with concern. "I'm a little confused."

Zelda exhaled heavily, almost as if she were beginning to rethink her decision to tell him. After a moment's hesitation, however, she continued. "When the guards opened up my door, it was not the first moment I had been aware of the attacks on the castle." She lifted her hands to her neck and gently untied the ribbon there. The small cut on her neck was no longer bleeding, thank Nayru, but there was dried blood staining the skin below the cut and it had not yet scabbed over. Link's eyes flew open. Without thinking, he lifted his hands to inspect her wound.

His voice was stern as he asked, "Who did this to you? Did you see him?" She shook her head.

"No, I did not. When he grabbed me, it was from behind. I do know who he was, though." Zelda took a deep breath and met Link's eyes steadily. "Link, I fear that the man who leads the attack on Hyrule now is none other than Ganondorf."

Link sat back slowly, letting the thought sit with him. "He's supposed to be dead," he replied. In fact, he knew Ganondorf was dead. He had seen the king die, seen the Triforce of Power fade from his hand as the Master Sword did its work on his internal organs. "You're saying that you could have been.. You could have died right there." His voice shook slightly. Zelda began to nod, but then stopped herself.

"If he had any intention of ending my life, he had a perfect opportunity to. He would have killed me. For whatever reason, Ganondorf intends to toy with us as well as destroy Hyrule."

"Zelda, I'm worried for you. What if he takes you? I don't think I can hurt you again," Link murmured.

She cringed. "I Know. Ganondorf's return is the last thing either of us could want. I hate to think of his consciousness crawling around inside my body as much as you hate the thought of injuring it. Unfortunately, I do not know that we can keep him away from us without risking countless lives. He is not like the Twilight, where those in his way will simply turn into spirits. Ganondorf will kill them without a second thought."

Link's eyes fell. "He's probably behind the moblins, too. Used them last time, didn't he?" Zelda did not respond, and he continued. "The soldiers' ranks are falling. We are getting weaker, and I don't see any hope in the near future for us to replenish our strength. Even I'm struggling to hold my own sometimes. He's winning…"

Zelda leaned over to rest her hand on Link's thigh. "I think in this situation, we have to let history be our teacher. You are the Hero chosen by the goddesses to defend Hyrule, and history dictates that the only way to stop Ganondorf is to have you go after him yourself. That is why I wished to speak with you without the guards here," she explained. "They are very loyal men, and would all-too-willingly sacrifice themselves to battle him. He was very clear on his threat to kill any in his way, including me. They would die, and quickly. However, I know from my own two eyes that you can hold your own against him in whatever form he takes."

He swallowed and nodded. "How do I find him, though? We never even saw him properly, he could have been one of the shadows.. we just don't know." Link looked out the window again and sighed. "I don't u—" Suddenly the carriage was yanked into forward motion, and he'd lost his train of thought. The carriage was moving faster and more abruptly than usual, but it was only slightly different and Link ignored it.

"You forget that Ganondorf, despite his collected and regal manner, is a rather flamboyant man. If he sees a chance to gloat—perhaps over the fact that he frightened us away from the castle—he will take it. At that point, we should have Ilia and all those you care for under guard, and you can attack him without hesitation." She paused in her speech for a moment.

"I only wish Midna was able to lend us her aid… the magic within her and the Fused Shadows is strong, and I have no doubt they would make quick work of Ganondorf at their peak of power." Link went quiet at the mention of Midna.

"You're probably right," Link agreed. "He went so far as to use you as a toy, a puppet. As for Midna," his tone dropped, "she's not coming back. You know this." Zelda nodded slowly, looking at the small sliver of the outdoors that could be seen through the curtains covering the window.

"I know. But I also know that she came to hold all of the Light World in very high regard. Particularly you, Link. She cared very deeply for you and your well-being, which is why she shattered the mirror. To protect us from the danger of the Twilight Realm."

"She's a fool," Link suddenly burst out, his voice loud and harsh. "She should've stayed. She should've known I would need her help..." He caught himself. "She only ever wanted to use me," he said, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "The only reason she ever helped me was because she'd feel guilty otherwise. She wouldn't come back for Hyrule."

"Midna was not a fool, Link," Zelda retorted, her voice as sharp as Midna's. She reached across the carriage to touch Link's knee again. "The most difficult part about being a ruling princess is that we cannot ever make decisions for our own benefit. Midna's mind and mine were one for a time, and I know for certain that she fell in love with Hyrule and with—" Zelda broke off suddenly, withdrawing her hand as much as she could without moving her body. "She could not see the future, Link, and though we may need her now there is little we can do to bring her back," she finished, sounding far less personal than before.

Link sighed unsteadily and nodded. "Forgive me... I just… I'm tired. All of the fighting… It's getting to me again, I guess." Pressing his hand to a wrapped wound on his stomach, Link let his eyes close briefly. "After the castle is cleared, we can set down guard posts at certain points on the map." Zelda nodded along to Link's plans, but suddenly his eyes flashed open and he sat up. "Wait a moment." He turned his head toward the window and pushed the curtains open. "The second carriage should have reached us by now." Zelda stiffened as well.

"Do you have your sword, Link?" The Hero carefully unsheathed the sword he had with him and peeked through the driver's box.

"Moblins. Two of them," he whispered. Each was mounted on one of the two horses driving the carriage. The former drivers were nowhere to be seen. Link stood up and inspected the wall before settling onto the bench and beginning to quietly work nails out of the wall with the tip of his sword. "Quiet now, hang on, and stay back."

He quickly pulled the wall down toward him and leaped out from the carriage, driving his sword into the chest of one of the moblins. It fell off the horse, stunned. The other moblin quickly yanked the reins, steering the two horses to the left and trying to knock Link off his feet. Link stumbled, but quickly recovered his footing and made a clean slice through the moblin's torso. It was dead soon after its intestines began spilling out of the cut. Link kicked the monster out of its saddle and drew the reins short, stopping the horses before they got out of control. Once stopped, he glanced back at Zelda to check if she was okay. She was fine, sitting placidly in her carriage seat with an intense expression as she watched Link fight.

"It doesn't make sense… they know how easy they are to kill in small numbers. There has to be more." The ground began to rumble with the thundering of hooves approaching the carriage. Heavy hooves. Boars. "Stay," he told Zelda once again as he jumped off the horse's back and flashed his sword at the oncoming moblins.

"Stop where you are!" he shouted. All but one of them did, and the moblin that came a little closer than the others spoke directly to Link.

"Give us the Princess and you will live, as will the council members and ball attendees. Resist, and we will torture the council and kill all of the men." Link stepped back a few paces with narrowed eyes, his hand tightening on his sword as he debated. Zelda needed no extra time, and after a mere moment of deliberation she knew what had to be done. Hoping that Link's hesitation would give her enough time, Zelda grabbed the small dagger kept in the carriage for emergencies and cut the rough word 'follow' into her seat. After tucking the blade into her robe pocket just in case, she opened the door of the carriage and stepped out.

"What is it that you want with me?" she asked sharply, addressing the moblin. It grinned and stepped forward, causing Link to raise his sword again.

"Calm your attack dog, Princess. We have no need for him, only you." The other moblins laughed quietly amongst themselves, but Link was unamused. He clenched his teeth and charged the moblin, who drew its mace to meet the Hero's sword. "Do not challenge me, peasant," the moblin sneered. He threw Link off balance with a swing of his weapon, then brought it down again on the Hero's side. Link gasped and backed away from the creature, hand pressed to his new wound. The moblin smirked and offered Zelda his hand.

"Princess…"

"Link!" Zelda gasped, rushing to his side. She pried his hand away from the wound to look at it. Swallowing down the vomit she felt rising in her throat at the sight, the Princess ripped off the bottom half of her robe and wrapped it tightly around Link's tunic. "That should help," she murmured, hoping that the few medical books she had read would serve her Hero well. She stood when she was finished and faced the moblin's leader. "Do you promise to release all those you have captured and end the attacks if I accompany you?" she asked it.

The moblin glanced back at its companions before replying to Zelda. "We will release the civilians, but the king is still debating the release of your council. Realized your luck, Princess. You shouldn't have the option to bargain with us."

"You can't… Zelda they're lying," Link protested. Zelda looked back at him apologetically.

"I am sorry, Link, but I cannot take the chance that they are speaking the truth. Get back into the carriage," she commanded.

Suddenly impatient, the moblin grabbed the Princess' forearm and yanked back on it, hard. "Let's go!" he growled. Link couldn't take his eyes off of her, whispering only loud enough for her to hear:

"Please, be careful." Zelda stumbled at the jerk on her arm, but as she righted herself and moved closer to the moblin so he could take her, she nodded to Link.

"Get in the carriage, Link," she repeated. "I can take care of myself."

The moblin pulled her up onto the boar in front of itself, and the whole group followed him as he set off toward the desert. Link watched them leave until he couldn't see Zelda's white skirt any ore. It felt as if something had been ripped away from him, something personal.

A moment passed before he stumbled back to the cabin of the carriage, holding a hand to his bleeding side. The princess had sacrificed some of her own warmth to cover it… He swallowed before heaving himself up into the carriage an falling back into the seat he hadn't ridden in. Zelda's former seat. He closed his eyes for a moment, his breaths stuttering from the pain in his side. As the light of dawn hit his eyelids, he sat up to look at the wound. It was bleeding through the cloth. He looked around the room, finding only his sword. He grabbed it and removed his tunic, cutting a rip in the front before tearing the fabric away in strips and removing a thread from the hem. Groaning, he peeled off Zelda's robe and let the air sting his open flesh for a moment. Then, using the thread and a makeshift needle he began to sew his torso shut, eventually closing the wound after a long time of painfully slow stitching. Link caught his breath as he re-wrapped it with scraps from his tunic, and then he noticed something odd. The seat he was on had not been ripped before. Link stood weakly to read the letters cut into the fabric.

"Follow," he read aloud to himself. He jumped from the carriage immediately, ignoring the tender pulling of his sloppy sutures as he disconnected Epona from the carriage and mounted her. "Let's go," he said to her. He had to lean down against the mare's neck to keep from falling off or fainting, but he kept his eyes fixed on the reddish-brown desert on the horizon.


	3. II

"Are you going to tell me where you are taking me?" Zelda asked, It had been at least two hours after first mounting the moblin's boar, and as the moon began to trade places with the sun she could see the a series of buildings along a ridge silhouetted against the sun. The moblin smirked at her before hollering to alert the tower guards of their arrival. As they rode up the hill and into the circle of buildings, the moblins greeted the numerous women that came to run beside them with grunts. Once they reached a pair of tall double doors giving entrance to the compound, a particularly dark-skinned woman approached the boar with the Princess on it.

"You be introduced to king, processed through his advisers. Cooperate." Her Hylian was broken, but understandable. Her accent was Gerudo. Zelda narrowed her eyes as she nodded to show her comprehension, but she didn't move. The last thing she wanted was to offend her captors. The Gerudo nodded to the moblins, and they proceeded to dismount. The leader pulled Zelda from the saddle, turned her around, and cuffed her wrists roughly before shoving her forward. "Walk."

Once inside, the riches of the Gerudo king were clear. While it wasn't the same understated opulence a Zelda's own throne room, the walls were covered in gold, red, and white patterns. The throne was, like at Hyrule Castle, raised above the rest of the room to be a focal point. And in it sat the Prince of Thieves, the King of Evil. Ganondorf.

"Princess," he chuckled, his voice low and threatening like it had been in Zelda's bedroom. His Hylian was as flawless as always, despite his slight accent. "Welcome to Jerdana. It is a pleasure that you arrived sooner than I had anticipated. I was hoping that your dog would put up more of a fight." If he was trying to get a rise out of Zelda, it was not going to work. Despite clenching her teeth and resisting the urge to grind them together, she did not bother to dignify his arrogance with a reply.

He cracked a bit of a smile. "What a shame. I suppose your father's life really did end too soon. You can't even speak for yourself," he mused. "I've heard complaints of your rule-even your own council spoke against your capability as a queen."

"The council," Zelda said coolly, "refuses to believe that any female can hold power without causing harm to the kingdom. It has little to do with my own rule and more to do with the council's predetermined judgment. If I recall correctly, I had far more a hand in saving Hyrule from you than they did."

"It appears they were right all along then, hm? Now it is you beneath my throne. I have easily captured you and destroyed the inhabitants of your very own palace... You speak to me without a single stutter, yet every single word out of your mouth may as well have never been spoken for its value." He smirked and waggled a finger, summoning a Gerudo woman to his side. He spoke to her in Gerudo, and she narrowed her orange eyes toward Zelda before replying to him in the same language. Zelda kept her face impassive, not particularly caring to reveal that she did not understand most of what they said.

"You truly are pathetic," Ganondorf resumed in Hylian.

"I respectfully disagree," Zelda retorted, not sounding respectful in the least. "I am far less pathetic than you are cowardly. You always end the fights with your own hands so you can claim victory for yourself, but the battle is begun and sustained by lackeys that continue to perish under the sword." She glanced at the Gerudo woman-the one Ganondorf had referred to as Nabooru-as she spoke her last words.

Nabooru growled a curse word in Gerudo. Ganondorf sighed and commanded the moblins to release Zelda. "Come," he said to her, mocking the Princess by commanding her as if she were a serf. Zelda stood still. They would have to make her move.

Ganondorf sighed again, but this time he stood and slowly made his way to her. Zelda glared at him the whole way down. He grabbed her chin to make her look him in the eyes.

"Look at yourself. You are just a child. Maybe eighteen, or twenty. Remind me, when did you lose your father?"

Zelda swallowed, resisting the urge to forcefully jerk her head from his grasp. Ganondorf's touch made her skin crawl. "Thirteen." Ganondorf squeezed harder.

"Ah, yes. I remember how he attempted to overthrow me when we were both young, like you. Your Hylian guard hasn't improved since then." His hand left her jaw sore, and after he stepped back, towering over her still, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Bow."

Zelda narrowed her eyes. "Never."

"Don't test my patience. Bow on your knees," he growled threateningly.

"I won't," Zelda repeated. "You will never be the king of Hyrule."

This infuriated Ganondorf. In the middle of her sentence, he grabbed her by the throat and threw her against the nearest pillar hard enough to leave a bruise without actually injuring her. Zelda cried out as she hit the pillar and crumpled weakly to the ground. None of the Gerudo around the room even blinked. "Get up," he commanded harshly. She rested for a moment on the ground, suddenly becoming aware of how thin and cold her robe and nightgown were, before taking her bound hands away from her head to stare Ganondorf in the eyes as she rose to her feet again. "We'll try this again. Bow to your king." He glared at her with his golden eyes, waiting.

She did not want to. She really, really did not want to bow to him. That would mean that he had won the battle, that he had an advantage over her. But she also knew that Ganondorf would only become angrier and angrier until he killed her, or worse. This was not a battle that Zelda could win. So she compromised and gave him a shallow curtsey as best she could without the use of her hands. No longer outright defiance, but not submission.

"Progress," he muttered to himself. "You will be by my side at all times unless specifically sent with one of my personnel. If you wish for privacy, I will have my women accompany you. Understood?"

"Understood," she said reluctantly. The word tasted bad on her tongue.

"Nabooru, bathe her and dress her in something more appropriate," Ganondorf said in Hylian. "I wish to dine with her this evening." He returned to his throne and sat back. Nabooru nodded and approached the Princess, offering her hand and an understanding nod. Zelda hesitantly took it and allowed the woman to guide her away from the king.

Nabooru lead her through the hallways and eventually to a bath room. Handing Zelda a large and a smaller towel, she allowed her to undress. "The soaps area long the wall," she said in Hylain. "And you shouldn't fear the king so deeply. He just takes some patience."

"Patience," Zelda huffed. "I may show him patience once I have forgotten how his minion nearly killed my closest companions multiple times and how Ganondorf himself possessed me to use me as a weapon against my closest friend, all in an effort to take the whole Triforce. Or perhaps once I forget how he treated me not five minutes ago as well," she retorted. "And I do not fear him," she added. "I hate him."

"Harsh," Nabooru joked. "But even if you just gave him you and your friend's shards he would still be interested in Hyrule. You have to understand-they say that before he was possessed by his demon, all he wanted was a truce with Hyrule. For imports and respect."

"His demon?" Zelda asked hesitantly.

Nabooru paused for a moment. "It's hard to explain, but he becomes... a god. A great boar, maybe eleven feet tall. He turns into this thing only through rage, and he is uncontrollable. It happened once when he reached maturity. A third of the tribe had to guide him toward the empty desert to avoid more damage than he had already caused."

Zelda huffed again. "It happened again when he tried to take over Hyrule for the second time. Possessing me did not give him the results he wanted, apparently, so he tried to kill Link as a beast." Nabooru was quiet for a moment.

"He has never spoken of it." She crossed her arms, entranced by her own thoughts. "Would it be strange to suggest that he still has a conscience?"

"Personally, I have significant doubt that he still has a conscience," Zelda replied, her face showing her distaste for the very thought. Nabooru seemed slightly offended for a moment, but recovered with ease.

"You better hurry up and bathe yourself," she said. "He will not be happy if you're late." Zelda untied her robe and began to remove it. Before it had so much as left her shoulders, however, she paused and glanced at Nabooru meaningfully.

"Would you mind... averting your eyes?" Nabooru rolled her eyes and turned away a little bit.

"Another thing. If the king dares to touch you, scream and the girls will help you. We're loyal to Ganondorf, but we'll protect another woman before we'll guard him. He has a healthy history, but he's never been in a situation like this before."

"A situation like this?" Zelda repeated with a small smirk. She was still tense, but gradually becoming more comfortable around Nabooru. She slipped off her robe first, then her nightgown, and stepped into the bath.

"Well, yes. Ganondorf... you could say that he's jealous of you. He told me once before how angry it made him that you got a land handed over to you that many would like to say you don't deserve."

"It is true that I may not have earned the throne as some would prefer," Zelda agreed, now applying the soaps to her body and hair, "but I am the only one who holds any right or capability at all to rule Hyrule."

"He likes to think that he deserves it, but his hand maids figure that it's just the demon speaking... He was not so hateful as a child." Nabooru leaned against the wall and sighed. "There is a man trapped inside of there. Sometimes we wonder what he would be like without it. Unfortunately, it is a curse that comes with the Triforce of Power."

"Megalomania?" Zelda suggested, her tone simultaneously filled with grim humor and venom. She made sure to rinse the soap off thoroughly, even dunking her head beneath the water a few times for good measure. When she was certain that she was soap-free, Zelda stood from the tub and grabbed her nightgown from the floor to dry herself with. "What is it that Ganondorf considers 'appropriate' clothing anyway?" she asked, slightly wary of Nabooru's answer.

The Gerudo woman shrugged. "Well, I suppose the best I could give you is a blue ceremonial dress of ours. It's plain and a little short, but it's the closest thing we Gerudo have to Hylian clothing. Unless you prefer male clothing," she added with a smirk.

"Truly, I would be comfortable in either. Whatever His Highness," Zelda spat, "would like." Nabooru walked to the back of the room and rummaged through the bins there, pulling out a blue dress a moment later.

She walked back to Zelda and handed the thing to her. "This should be alright. If you want makeup, I can put it on for you. Otherwise we should hurry. Time is running out."

Zelda put the dress on quickly, all too glad to cover herself up again. "No, I am fine without any makeup. But do you have a brush or comb that I could perhaps use for my hair?" she asked, waving a hand in reference to the stringy wet mop of brown locks on her head. Nabooru returned to the pantries and took a brush off the lid of one, taking it back to the Princess.

"That should get the job done. We should get moving, though. You can brush on the way." Zelda took the brush with one hand and gathered her long hair with the other. She began to brush it out as they walked toward the dining room, then pulled the damp strands into a long braid. By the time they reached Ganondorf, she looked more or less presentable. Not that she cared to show him any respect by cleaning up.

Unlike typical nights, it was just the king at the long table. He glanced up as soon as Zelda and Nabooru entered the room and nodded at the Gerudo. She bowed her head and left Zelda there alone in the doorway. Not letting his eyes leave her, Ganondorf asked her to sit beside him. Zelda hesitantly walked toward the king, the stiff formality that had begun to fade during her conversation with Nabooru returning to her manner. She took a seat on his right side and sat perfectly erect in her seat. Not long after Zelda sat, the meal arrived. It seemed to be mostly normal-some sort of roasted meat and carrots. Ganondorf's eyes were like daggers as he studied the Princess.

"This is rare, the meat. Dinners are typically vegetarian here, unless you care for the bitter desert crab." He continued to look her over a moment longer, despite the fact that Zelda did not even turn her eyes toward him. "Tell me if it suits your tastes." He waited expectantly.

Assuming that his intention was for her to eat first, Zelda picked up her fork and tried a carrot. She then used her knife to cut a bite of meat away from her portion and ate that as well. "Both are quite good," she told him once she had swallowed, a bit surprised at the civility of her own tone. Ganondorf cleared his throat and began eating as well, continuously glancing at the Princess. After a few bites, he stopped and leaned back.

"How old do you think I am?"

Zelda put her utensils down and chewed slowly, giving her time to think. She had been taken off guard by the question, an odd inquiry put so casually. "If the spiritual Sages in Arbiter's Grounds are correct, then your age is in the proximity of one hundred and twenty years old."

He seemed a little frustrated with her answer. "I meant, how old do I appear to be?" She turned her head reluctantly to look at him.

"I would have to guess. Perhaps thirty or forty?" He swallowed and didn't respond, turning his gaze back to his food and continuing to eat. Zelda, too, returned to her former stiff and distanced position. Their silence carried on through the end of the meal. Once they had both finished eating, the king relaxed and ran a hand along the back of his neck.

"What is your drink?" he asked. Zelda took a moment to respond, once again surprised by his sudden easy demeanor.

"Fruit punch. I rarely drink alcohol," she replied. After a moment of silence, she decided to speak again. "I must admit, I am incredibly surprised at the civility with which you have treated me. Grateful for it, make no mistake, but I expected something much different after our last encounter. Why the sudden gentlemanly-ness?" Ganondorf swallowed and whistled, telling a server what drinks to bring for the king.

"No reason in particular." He was quiet for a moment. "Did you ever wonder what some of the things your father and I discussed before he died were?"

"No, not really," Zelda said with honesty. "I never had much of an opportunity to learn about my father's political life."

"We would discuss many things, but most of our meetings were upon the subject of a peace treaty." The waiter returned with their drinks, setting them on the table and bowing before leaving the pair alone again. "We went through script after script, and neither of us were coming up with solutions we both agreed to. As the game continued, your father became irritated with the entire Gerudo tribe. He took away trade rights and promised war if my people were to step onto his land again. I watched my own die from starvation, thirst, illnesses... I had to go to war." He paused to take a swig from his drink. "We ended it with a stalemate." Thanks to a Hero, Zelda added silently.

"Which concluded with your banishment to the Twilight," she finished for him, no small amount of resentment in her tone. After all, he had done horrible things in his efforts to escape the prison and complete his war on Hyrule. Ganondorf shot her a threatening glare.

"Yes, that is true." He took another swig from his drink. "The draft that set him off and made him kill," he stressed the last word, "was a simple proposal-he would receive all of Jerdana and its resources as a part of Hyrule, and I would own his daughter to become a king under law. He denied it, and soiled my name in jokes. Soon after, I declared the Gerudo tribe its own sovereign name: Jerdana. We became our own nation, utterly and irrevocably separate from your father's kingdom." He smirked down at the Princess. "You could almost say that your father was the one who cause all of Hyrule's pain and suffering recently, hmm?"

"Own... his daughter?" Zelda said quietly, the threat in her voice apparent. She sounded quite angry.

Ganondorf's grin widened a bit. "If he had forced you into marriage with me at a younger age, Hyrule would still be in one piece." Zelda scowled. She couldn't argue with logic.

"Or, you could have chosen to insist upon something far more trade-able than the right to possess me," she countered, spitting the last two words at him.

"I tried. Normal trades weren't enough for him. We could not agree on how it would all be traded." Ganondorf narrowed his eyes toward her. "Besides, what is wrong with that? I'm sure your Hero has lesser qualities of a man and traits closer to a woman."

"Any feelings I have toward Link are quite complicated, I assure you. I'll have you know that sharing a mind with the Twilight Princess and then being possessed by you have had long lasting effects, including deep affection and sharp loathing for the Hero." She stood up. "The only extent to which my personal affections go is to sisterly love, which is as it should be. In regards to his quality as a man, I remind you that he beat you in bestial wrestling, horseback riding, and swordplay not too long ago."

He stared at her, holding his breath. "Sit." Zelda clenched her jaw and sat down stiffly, locking eyes with Ganondorf and staring at him with a challenge in her gaze. "You speak so highly of this peasant, a mere farm hand. Perhaps it is not so absurd to suggest you could fit in perfectly around your drunken commoners." He gulped his drink.

"Not very smart, either. You can't even speak your enemy's language-it is no wonder you're losing this war. Or have I already won?"

"Perhaps I want at least one part of this to be on my terms," she hissed in flawed Gerudo. It was not a language that she had ever used outside of her lessons, but her father had insisted on her knowing at least portions of every language spoken within and nearby Hyrule.

Ganondorf cracked a smile, almost laughing. "I have heard children speak more fluently than that." His glass was almost empty as he took another swig.

He continued in Gerudo. "I'm sure you must be ridiculed constantly by everyone you've ever known-I wouldn't be surprised if this discussion of a set marriage is only shocking to you because you have never been proposed to in any form before." His voice dropped to a whisper. "One-knee proposals are humorous and pathetic. Those stories your daddy told you? Just stories. Fantasies you will never see."

Zelda grit her teeth. She narrowed her eyes further and further as Ganondorf spoke, fighting to withhold her fury. How many languages did he know apart from Hylian and Gerudo? Probably not nearly as many as she did. "Have you brought me here to your palace only to mock me?" she interrupted him in Hylian. Ganondorf stopped himself.

"I'm just having a little... fun, is all. But I do not have you here merely to mock and poke fun. You, in fact, have a purpose to me." He licked his lips and finished his drink, rising to his feet. "One you should learn once my advisers get back to me in the morning."

"I think that, for now, I would like to retire." She pushed her chair back from the table but did not stand up, waiting for permission.

"Of course, but I have a few things to do before I join you." The king smirked a little, 'accidentally' giving the Princess all the wrong ideas. "Now get up. I will lead you to your new chambers." Zelda stood obediently, all of Ganondorf's wrong ideas running through her mind like frenzied birds. She could not help her quickened heartbeat as he lead her out of the dining room. A tense silence hung over them as they traveled up the stairs and through the hallways, eventually coming upon a wide one. Ganondorf moved forward and pushed the doors open. His chambers were composed of several open rooms, the two main portions connected to each other and to the hall by double doors. Thankfully for Zelda, there were two separate bedrooms.

Ganondorf sighed tiredly before sitting down at his study table and picking up a stack of papers, flipping through them as if to only remind him of what he had to do with them. He did not bother Zelda and mostly kept to himself, continuing his work.

Zelda herself swallowed, slightly uncomfortable at the thought of sleeping that close to the man who had tried to kill her and her ancestors more than once. But if he had any plans to do away with the Princess, he would have already executed them. She discreetly took off all the over-clothes Nabooru had given her, stripping down until she was wearing only the shift. After unbraiding her hair and gently combing through it with her fingers, the princess crawled into bed and pulled the covers over her herself. "Thank you," she said quietly to the king, not sure that he'd heard it and honestly hoping that he hadn't. Ganondorf did not respond.

He continued working for several hours, and by evening he had finished. Zelda had obviously been exhausted by everything and slept through the entire day. Irritated and exhausted, he forced himself out of his chair and lumbered over to his wardrobe, removing his crown first. Then he took off his armor and shirt, kicking off his boots as he sat on the edge of his bed before lying back and sighing. "Tell me this will work," he whispered, half praying to Din before he closed his eyes and fell asleep on top of the sheets.


	4. III

_"Tell me, Princess, now when did you last just let your heart decide?"_

The next morning, Zelda woke before the king. She quietly rose from her bed, put on her clothes from the night before, tied her hair back once again, and then equally silently slipped from the bedroom. Ganondorf himself woke less than a second after her door closed, but spent ten minutes just trying to gather the will to get up. Pushing himself out of bed, he got himself dressed.

Zelda, in the meantime, wandered around the halls listlessly, partially searching for the dining hall—the location of which she had completely forgotten—and partially walking for the sake of simply having something to do. Eventually she found herself right back where she had begun: at the bedroom door. A short cushioned bench was right next to it, and Zelda sat down in it to await Ganondorf's awakening. Once the king had dressed he went for the exit slowly, knowing that Zelda had little chance of escaping the castle. When he pushed open the door, he was not surprised to find the Princess sitting beside his chambers. He paused, rubbing his neck with a cloth he was using to clean his face with.

"And where have you been to this morning?"

"Simply… wandering. I attempted to locate the dining hall for breakfast but was unsuccessful," Zelda explained. "Where are all of the Gerudo women?" she added, glancing up and down the vacant corridor. "Yesterday I saw many moblins and Gerudo women, but none of them seem to be present this morning."

"It's probably their rotation. Either the perimeter or the interior must be guarded at all times. The interior guards must be dining now." He was a skilled liar. He tossed the cloth back into his room before closing the door. "You can change into different clothes to fit you better if you would like. I can send Nabooru to help you again. Unless, of course, you still don't want to accept becoming a Gerudo." He smirked.

Zelda tilted her head. "Becoming a Gerudo?"

"You'd make a good hostage, but I know you can find your way around that. However, if I were to convince your council that you have accepted your fate and surrendered to becoming one of the Gerudo, Hyrule would crumble and fall once and for all. Then I could send in a final wave of warriors to kill off the survivors and rebuild from the ashes to expand Jerdana." He breathed out slowly. "I'm sure by now you must have realized… I do not think there is any hope for your rescue."

"I—I—" she stuttered, finding herself speechless for one of the first times in her life. Zelda swallowed and took a breath before trying again. "May I… negotiate? Ganondorf looked at her for a long moment, deciding whether or not to entertain her.

"What did you have in mind, hmm?" Zelda took another deep breath. She hated surrendering her kingdom to another ruler once again, but at least she had learned from Zant and was negotiating this time.

"You may not kill the citizens of Hyrule, and Hyrule will be absorbed into Jerdana rather than obliterated as you suggest," she replied firmly. Ganondorf cracked a smile.

"Only the men may survive, excepting your hand maids for your own personal pleasure. In fact, because I am feeling generous I won't spare your council and will allow you your personal choice of wardrobe after the war is over." He grabbed her arm and pulled her up on to her feet. "Now, let's go find ourselves something to eat."

Zelda tried to jerk her arm away from his grip, but it was firm. "No," she insisted, tensing her biceps underneath his hand. "Nobody dies. It is my responsibility as Princess to keep my people as prosperous and alive as I can. I have failed to do so before, and I do not intend to fail again. There are those who will fight you, and any blood spilled will lie on both our hands."

"Hmm." He held his amused expression back from her view. "I'll consider it… but I can tell you that no one has ever won anything by pretending they have already attained success. Your people will get in my way, and I will have to eliminate that obstacle. Now, may we eat?" He did not let go of her arm, watching her eyes and waiting for her to respond to him.

"Will my meal contain arsenic?" Zelda retorted acidly, her blue eyes narrowed.

Ganondorf did not bother to respond and tugged her forward roughly, practically dragging her through the hallways and down to the dining hall. She followed, not fighting his pull but certainly not going placidly along with it. He let her go suddenly when they reached the table and took his seat, waiting for the morning meal. Zelda's seat from the night before was open beside him. The table noticeably began to stare, glance, and even point at Zelda, whispering things to their table partners alongside the staring. Ganondorf seemed slightly angered by their behavior, but he did not dare to let it show clearly. Finally the meals arrived; cuccoo salad and a small ration of bread. Even after the food was delivered, the gossiping did not cease.

"What are they talking about?' she murmured to Ganondorf, speaking in Hylian more for the purpose of secrecy than mere ease. He poked his salad and looked over at her, irritation now obvious on his face.

"Nothing of your concern, I assure you." Zelda supposed that was the best answer she was going to get, and so she took up her own fork to pick at her own salad quietly. A few Gerudo words were passed to the king ever once and a while, but he rarely gave a response. Zelda listened carefully, trying to pick up as much of the language as she could. While the silence was tense and uncomfortable, she had no inclination to break it any time soon.

As the eating began to draw to a close and the Gerudo's quiet munching swelled into content talk once again, Zelda finally spoke. "So, what now?" she asked, premeditating on her words to make sure that when she spoke them in Gerudo, they were at least grammatically correct.

The speaking at the table died out suddenly, leaving Zelda the center of attention. Even the king stared at her. Everyone started asking Ganondorf how she knew Gerudo so well and why he had never mentioned it. He explained subtly that he had not known she knew it. The silence thickened again.

"I do not know Gerudo as well as I should, but my father wanted me to know at least parts of all the languages I could hold," Zelda said to the table at large, her less-perfect Gerudo making a reappearance. The Gerudo all gave her strange looks, some even bordering on condescension, before returning to their meals. The rest of breakfast passed in uncomfortable silence.

As the Gerudo women began to filter from the room, the king had a serf bring him a drink. He took the glass and swirled the liquid in it around before taking a sip. Zelda scowled to see him drinking so early in the morning. "You never agreed to our terms," Ganondorf mused absently. She looked at him carefully.

"The terms for… for marriage?" He smirked.

"I have told you what I can do for you. That is the deal that stands on the table, and you have the option to accept the merge and become Gerudo or watch your kingdom burn." He leveled his gaze at her. "Choose quickly, Princess."

Zelda's hatred for him rose like bile in her throat. Who was he to threaten her into a position like this? Who was he to obliterate everything she had ever loved if she refused him? She narrowed her eyes at his triumphant smirk. He knew he had her trapped, and it delighted him.

"Fine," she spat. "Yes, I will marry you."

"You don't sound pleased that someone has finally proposed to you, Princess. I don't think that's quite how your acceptance is supposed to go, do you?"

"If you wish for someone to be overjoyed to be your fiancé, you should try someone else," she hissed.

_The Documents contained here have been lost to recollection. Recovery is still in process, however, our archives are imperfect in preservation._

He put his hand down on the table and muttered something in a language the princess did not understand. Shadows crept from the corners of the room like black smoke and wreathed themselves around the piece of furniture, and when

"Do you like it?"

Zelda crouched down to rub her hand along the cat's back and tail and rub its ears affectionately. "I like it quite a lot," she said affectionately as she crouched down and gathered the kitten's legs underneath him to put in her lap. Ganondorf almost smiled at the two sitting there.

"It is the least of what I can d-" Suddenly, Nabooru knocked on the door.

"You sent for me?" She spoke in Gerudo. Ganondorf smiled at Zelda and used his magic to send the table upward, opening the door to the room.

"Come in." She did so. "I want you to find Zelda pants as a request." Nabooru glanced at Zelda with the kitten and cursed Ganondorf in their language. For whatever reason, she was unhappy that the king was treating the princess well.

"I'll return with what she desires shortly." She bowed her head and left, closing the door.

"Now," Ganondorf returned his attention to Zelda, "show me what you can do. Can you create a life...?" He smirked.

Zelda looked up from the kitten now purring contentedly in her lap. "With magic?" she asked.

He nodded subtly. "Yes magic." He stared at her from a distance, waiting.

"I have never experimented all that much with my magic," she admitted after another silent moment spent stroking the cat. "I know that I can revive and transfer life energy from one being to another, but that is the greatest extent if my magic that I am aware of."

He held up his hand to his mouth, trying hardly hold back a snicker. Instead, he'd use her infancy to his advantage. "I would teach you, but we use different types of magic. You would have to want to learn-though it would give you something to do, as you so complained about earlier."

"I would not say that I complained. However, I would be interested in learning the Gerudo method of magic. It seems quite different from my own," she finished with a glance at the cat.

"The raw magic we Gerudo use is difficult because of the rule. That rule being that you must always have a spell table in reach. Sometimes exceptions, such as for those wielding the Triforce, are granted."

Zelda's eyes jumped upward at the mention of the Triforce. They landed first on the king's face, then on his hands, then on her own hand stroking the kitten's fur. "Do you use shadow magic?"

"...We call it Sheikah's magic, if you've heard of it. Sheikah natives-back when they were still around, didn't need tables to perform. They were born with the ability." He knelt in front of the seated princess and showed her the palm of his marked hand, displaying the eye of truth imprinted on his glove. "You see it damages living flesh, so gloves are necessary."

"I have heard of them," Zelda said. She looked carefully at Ganondorf's palm and glove and nodded to show her understanding. "I see." He stood and turned away from her, bringing down the table again.

"Now allow me to show you what it can do." He again whispered some foreign words and threw a puff of smoke off the table, a large war boar dropping into existence just from a fistfull of the smoke. It grunted and immediately went to the corner, sniffing at the edges of the room, then returned to the king to snuffle at his feet. "This massive beast is no longer controlled by the table, but the master who created it." He sent the table back up and, turning his attention to the boar again, spoke to it in Gerudo, "Threat." It immediately squealed and reared up, spinning its massive body around to face Zelda and charge her. She skittered away from its massive form, but right before it could touch her Ganondorf snapped his fingers and it vanished into smoke again.

"That is extremely powerful magic," she observed warily. "Can all Gerudo practice it?"

He sighed and nodded a little. "Hypothetically yes, but you must be educated in several areas to learn it." He decided to sit beside the princess cross legged and lifted his hand in a 'stop' position. With a clap he quickly folded his fingers into his palm, and the boar reappeared, weaker this time than when it first was conjured. "I can usually only recall dead things to life once, unless they are supported by their own magic. Their structure slowly breaks down in the empty space it is stored in until, of course, death... "

She nodded once again. "That makes sense. But where does the energy to create the creature come from originally?"

He had to think fast; she would realize that using raw magic from the table was killing him if he told her it originated from his life energy. "Unlike the Triforce alone, the raw magic for this method comes from the familiar elements passing through realms of the space we can't see."

It was evasive and the Princess knew it, but despite that she nodded a few times. "I understand. So, what are the mechanics of this magic casting? I understand that one must use the magic tables, but..."

The creature suddenly collapsed where it stood in the corner of the room, dying from the stress of being created, destroyed, and then reborn in so short a time. "Requests must be spoken in a more ancient form of Gerudo. You first speak your request, keeping in mind its purpose. All words spoken at the table cannot be revoked, and if you lie in your mind about what you will use it for, it will turn against you like a curse. The table simply enables the magic to happen-it opens the intangible realms surrounding it to acquire the raw materials to execute your request. It was created by an elder Sheikah long ago for those who are not born with the ability. For living things, you can take it away from the table. It will survive a normal lifespan from when it was created, but if you do what I did and revive it, it will most likely die. The creature is real-the shell of it is not. The creature is a spirit, stolen from the spiritual realms to reassume the form a living thing. The magic simply controls it, and makes it appear as something else, the thing I have requested. Understand?"

"Yes, I do," she confirmed with a nod.

He nodded and continued, "The magic is simple to create, impossible to control." The creature's carcass faded into nonexistence, sending up the billows of shadows that Zelda had come to associate with the monsters Link defeated along his adventures. "The first step is mostly up to you. Learn the ancient language."

"Is there any specific process to learning the Ancient Gerudo?"

"No, it is like learning any other language." He stared at her from the side. "If you were to want any h-" Suddenly the door opened. It was Nabooru with Zelda's pants.

"I think this should fit you alright... what's going on here?" Ganondorf stood and took the clothing from her.

"Lessons."

"I see," she replied, smiling a little.

The king handed the pair of pants to Zelda. They were similar to the other girls of the tribe's pants: airy and tan colored. "Would you like a room to change?" Nabooru quietly closed the door, leaving them but assuming the wrong things; she had been told the gossip at the breakfast table. Zelda took the pants sheepishly, well aware of the thoughts flickering through Nabooru's mind.

"Yes, a private room to change in would be excellent," she said.

Ganondorf nodded and opened the door. "This way. Down this hall to your right-the 4th door down there will be an empty room with a few cases of books. It should do you justice." Zelda nodded once and made a quick exit with the pants and shirt to change. When she had left, the king picked up the little cat. "What's so special about you?" It yawned. He shrugged a bit and held the animal against his chest while he waited.

After a few minutes, Zelda returned to the magic room dressed in the top and pants with the dress folded neatly in her arms. The top showed off a little bit more of her belly than she was comfortable with and she had rebraided her hair more tightly. Apart from her pale skin and pointed ears, the Princess of Hyrule looked like one of the Gerudo. When she entered and saw Ganondorf holding the kitten, a small smile flitted across her face. "What should I do with these?" she asked, lifting the folded clothing in her arms.

He stared at her for a long moment before looking down at the cat and clearing his throat. "You can keep them in your bed chamber." He let down the cat and stepped out of the room with Zelda, closing the door behind them and slowly started to walk back up. "Comfortable?"

"Yes, I am," Zelda said with a faint chuckle. "I have always been a rather boyish girl, to tell the truth. I insisted upon learning fencing, archery, horseback riding, and all manner of other un-Princess-like activities alongside my proper studies."

"That's rather impressive..." His voice failed a bit when he continued, "I remember your skill in archery and horseback riding well. I put my physical efforts into horseback, magic, and wielding a heavy blade. I only ever used a bow when I was a young teen, playing a game we called blackout in the dunes."

"Then perhaps we could exchange skills, you and I. You have already begun to teach me Gerudo magic and the finer points of your language, and in exchange perhaps I could help you with your archery skills," Zelda suggested. "If we are going to follow through with what we… discussed, it could be a beneficial show of alliance."

"Perhaps." He glared at her out of the corner of his eye, knowing something was strange about her acceptance towards the idea. He stood, leaving the cat behind in the magic room to guide the princess toward her rooms. Ganondorf opened the door for the princess and walked in as if it were his own chambers. He grabbed a clean cloth, soaked it in a trough of water, and rubbed his face with it, washing up it while he waited for Zelda to figure out where to set her clothes down.

Zelda ended up putting the dress down on the end of her bed, then sitting down on the edge of the mattress facing Ganondorf. While she was still uncomfortable with his casual demeanor, uncertain of his motives, she found herself becoming less and less uneasy around him.

"I am still confused as to why I am not dead," she stated.

He froze in his spot and let the cloth drop into the water before looking over his shoulder at her. "I told you your purposes… what more do you want?"

"I want nothing more," she corrected him, looking up to meet his gaze. "I am merely confused as to why my survival was necessary in order to carry out all that you wish to in Hyrule. Do not misinterpret me—I am extremely grateful for your mercy—but I have to admit that my presence here seems to have interfered with more than assisted your coup."

He looked a little longer before turning away and fixing his appearance a bit more. "I have a reason."

"And I assume you will not tell me for some time," Zelda sighed.

He growled a little as he retorted, "I have told you the reasons you needed to hear. Don't be a bitch or I will make you suffer one way or another for offending my mercy." He turned to face her, his eyes a little whiter than before, and his bottom incisors a little larger than remembered. He was angry with her, and that magic must have weakened him more than he expected. It was only when he was tired that he changed emotions so quickly and brought out the boar demon a little. He sighed and glanced at the door. A serf was watching his rage build. He tried to swallow the feeling and told the serf that he would be down in a moment. "...Hungry?"

"Indeed," Zelda replied slowly, watching Ganondorf carefully and not removing her eyes from him as she stood and slowly moved toward the door.

He walked through the hallways normally, almost as if he was never upset-as if he didn't know about the demon showing through his skin. Once they reached the dining hall, they took their usual place. The meal was boiled seasoned vegetables and roasted scorpion young. The king ate slowly, and the table did not speak, as if they knew the problem with Ganondorf and were treading lightly to avoid his wrath. The pressure was focused on Zelda as people quietly blamed her in passed-around whispers. This time, Zelda did not have to ask the king what the Gerudo women were saying. She had picked up more of the language in the short time that she had been in Jerdana, but even without more knowledge she could have inferred the meaning of the conversation. She ignored the talk to the best of her ability and continued to eat in silence.

Once the king finished eating he dismissed the table excepting Zelda. Once they all left, he sighed heavily and rubbed a hand a hand over his face. "Apologies."

"It is alright," Zelda replied, looking around the room everywhere except Ganondorf. "Nabooru... mentioned something like this when I was bathing last night."

His head perked up a bit. "What did she say to you..?" His tone was serious.

She hesitated at first, not wanting to get her sort-of-friend into trouble, but continued to speak anyway. "She said that you were possessed by a demon boar that sometimes controlled you, the one you transformed into during your battles with Link. She asked me to have patience with you and to not blame you for many of the things that you had done in the past."

He sucked in a breath. "Zelda," he breathed her name, treating it like a diamond. "I can control it, trust me." But he knew that must have been impossible for her, and continued to rub his temples.

"I had thought as much," Zelda replied solemnly, not lying in the least. "I am less certain now, though."

Ganondorf sighed, frustrated, and pulled his crown out of his hair. "I can," he promised. "Please trust me on this one thing."

After a moment of hesitation, she nodded once, firmly bobbing her head more than nodding. "I will," she agreed. In her own mind, she added that this would likely be the only thing she trusted the king about.

His words were generous only because he could not think-the pain was crawling through his gut with no mercy. He straightened his back and swallowed, "Maybe we should retire early, hm?" Zelda, perceptive woman that she was, noticed his pain and agreed immediately. He forced himself to show no weakness even if it hurt him further. It was that damn cat that had to be causing him this pain. He ignored it best he could and stood, offering Zelda his hand. She reached up and took it, still reluctant to let him touch her, then stood to walk with him to their bedroom.

"I think I will stay up for a little while," she said once they reached their door. "Perhaps locate a library and read." He nodded loosely and let her hand go.

"Don't stay up too late." He murmured, unaware of the concern he was showing for her. He pushed the doors open and threw off his armor and clothes, leaving his pants alone on considering she wouldn't be around anyway.

"I will not..." she murmured as he closed the door. The moment she heard Ganondorf hit his bed, she took off down the hall at a brisk trot. She took the same path as they had to go to the dining room, which seemed to be along one hall with many other public rooms. Zelda poked her head into several before she came upon a library. This door she entered and softly closed behind her before darting toward the shelves and beginning to hastily search them for something.

The night went on, and the king could not sleep. He could see the muscles of his stomach stressing at the pain of the damned animal stealing his energy. Where the hell was it? He groaned and started to sweat from the pain clawing at his stomach. Eventually he allowed himself to fall unconscious.

Zelda continued rummaging through the library's stocks, completely unaware of Ganondorf's troubles. She was entirely focused on the task at hand. "There must be a castle map located somewhere in here," she murmured to herself with no small amount of frustration. After a fruitless hunt through the entire library, Zelda decided to retire as well. She located a book written in Ancient Gerudo and took it with her from the library. She at least looked as if she had done as she'd said she would. The king continued to sleep, sweating and breathing strangely, but not noticeably to one who did not know him. Zelda slipped into the bedroom quietly and changed into the shift again behind her bed. When she finally settled underneath the blankets, she lay awake thoughtfully for more than an hour before finally drifting off to sleep.

Ganondorf did not wake up the next morning and slept in later than usual, the fever still going on. Once again, Zelda woke first. This morning, however, when she rose from the bed, dressed in the Gerudo clothes, and exited the room with her book in hand, she immediately set off looking for a staircase of some sort. She kept a sharp eye out for Gerudo guards, both so that she could avoid questioning and ask for help, but just like yesterday they seemed to have disappeared. Zelda finally found a staircase and took it, hurrying down the steps for as many flights as she could. When she reached the bottom, she found herself facing a short, empty hallway.

The king's body was weakened terribly overnight, but by the time he woke up his condition no longer worsened. His skin was cold to the touch, but he felt as if he were wrapped in a blanket in the midst of a blazing fire. He slid up to sit up and ran his hands through his hair, staring off into space. He made it through the night; he fought the demon... for now anyway. He moved to sit on the edge of the bed and only put on his black shirt. Getting up, he looked through his pile of armor and clothes and realized that he must've left his crown on the dining table. He sighed and tied up his hair, then wandered over to Zelda's bed chamber only to find the bed empty. It didn't really irritate him anymore, and he simply left the room. Seeing that the bench was empty as well he figured that she must've fallen asleep in the library after all, so he headed for the library half asleep. He found the library empty and sighed. He turned and left, intending to eat breakfast. Maybe that's where she was. So he went to the dining hall and sat with his unprofessional appearance, letting the crown sit as he got his plate from a waiter and started eating. The table had some minor offensive quiet conversations but overall typical gossip. Finally, the king swallowed and asked, "Has anyone seen the princess?" Silence was his answer. He seemed to have become a little frustrated now, but continued to eat without another word.

Zelda, down in the short, empty little hall, seemed rather frustrated. She started to walk along the edges of the corridor, patting the wall beside her as she walked.

He sat for a long moment after he finished eating, thinking through the princess's point of view over several times. He knew she was too smart to walk out, but she was smart enough to play the game. He suddenly shot up from his seat, causing everyone to look up at him before he swiftly exited the dining hall and headed through the hallways.

Along the way, he king checked several major rooms, but he thought that perhaps she was in the spell room. His search took longer than he would've liked, and he became a little angrier every time has saw an empty room. Eventually the king made it to the stairs and climbed them down.

Zelda made her whole way around the room without locating what she had been searching for. She sighed gently as she made her way to the bottom of the stairs, but rather than ascending them she turned around to face the hall again and closed her eyes. She sent a hasty prayer to Nayru for her success, then clasped her palms together with her fingers intertwined and her index fingers templed. She took a deep steadying breath as a faint blue aura began to surround her clasped hands. It shimmered and appeared to quiver in a thin transparent film over her hands, then she unclasped them and swept them horizontally through the air in front of her. The magical aura on her hands spread out into an opaque curtain that swept along the walls of the corridor, covering them, too, in pale blue.

Ganondorf arrived at the very bottom of the staircase just in time to see the last of the pale blue glow and the white outline of a door in the wall fade away. Zelda herself turned toward Ganondorf with a small amount of panic in her eyes as she slipped her finger into a spot a few dozen pages inside the book, as if to hold her place. Hopefully he had not seen anything.

"You should have let me know you'd be down here."

She flashed him a tentative smile. "I-" she said, choking on her suddenly dry throat. She swallowed to moisten it before trying again. "I apologize. I merely wanted somewhere private to read," she explained with a gesture to her book and the place she had marked within it.

His eyes narrowed toward the book and he asked slowly, "What are you reading?"

"A book about the Ancient Gerudo language," she replied, turning it to show him the cover.

He lightened at her response and nodded, "Good… Whenever you're hungry, there might be some breakfast left." He waved his hand in a beckoning motion.

"Oh, of course! Breakfast. I had completely forgotten." She began to walk toward him and ascended the stairs behind him after a last glance at the hallway. He breathed slowly and didn't talk on the way upstairs. He led her to the dining hall. It was practically empty.

"So tell me, what were you really doing?" He seating himself to sit with her while she got her meal.

"Reading," Zelda replied simply as she spooned some fruit on to her plate.

He was obviously suspicious. "If you weren't going to eat breakfast right away and wanted privacy, it isn't hard to find an empty room during the interior lunch hour."

"I will keep that in mind," she said before tucking into her brunch. She ate quickly and ate a lot, far more than she had at any other meal thus far. Putting on his crown loosely, Ganondorf patiently waited for her to finish. When Zelda was done, she sat back in her chair. She was silent and still for a moment, then looked toward Ganondorf.

"So..." she began quietly.

He glanced down at the table, "Hm?" He stared off and thought for a moment before sucking in a breath and speaking softly not to alert anyone passing by the room. "It was not my advisors who came up with the idea of my marriage to you." He rubbed his neck and continued. "I thought of it-well, actually I had been thinking of it." With a glance at her he continued. "I have never met a woman nearly as… should I say, responsible as yourself. You simply have a way of capturing my attention." He fell silent, hoping for a reaction from her.

Zelda blinked. "Oh... Well... I..." she stammered, finding herself completely helpless as to what to do in this situation. She had been prepared for every other possible situation that she could encounter throughout her life, but not this one.

He swallowed at his dry throat and watched her lips twitch at a loss of words. "I do not feel guilt, regret, nor shame. It simply _is._" He did not dare refer to the word; someone could here. It was not because he was embarrassed, but he couldn't have anyone believing that he was soft-especially for his enemy.

Zelda shook her head sharply. "It's not that I... Or perhaps I should... I just... do not know how to respond... I have never found myself in such a situation before," she floundered.

He parted his lips to speak but closed them when nothing was spoken. He stood, "Nevermind then, I have business to attend to in my throne room. You may join me or roam the castle as you like." She cleared her throat and nodded, remaining in her seat. She did not speak, not trusting her voice at this point. Finding no response out if her, he sighed and left the room, going through the hallways to find the throne room.

After Ganondorf had departed, Zelda left the dining room as well and made her way to the magic room. She stepped inside the dim chamber with the Ancient Gerudo book still in hand, then sat on the floor and rested her back against the wall. She jumped when the cool stone touched the bare skin of her middle back, still not quite used to the Gerudo clothing, but soon settled down and summoned a small ball of white light to read by.

When the king arrived in his throne room, his advisors were already there, discussing the documents among themselves. He nodded when they acknowledged him and sat in his right. "So..?"

"It was a success," Daria, his foreign nations advisor, replied. "You truly have trained the best. It took more blood then we would've liked on the paper, but the signature is no fake. "

He smiled a little. "Is the boy still alive?"

"Yes," another advisor answered. "The representative of the people-the child's name will be marked in history. Thanks to Daria, we'll finally have a stable salt trade."

When the priority ceased, a new subject came along but was concealed with hints. Daria interjected after a tact interrogator visited with her, "Sir, the other boy-he's nearing death. If we torture him any further, he'll die."

"Has he unveiled the information yet?"

"No," Daria replied to the king. This conversation carried on so.

Their conversation of little relevance continued, and the king seemed truly interested with these matters, pleasured to learn that he has succeeded in such difficult tasks. The conversations carried on for quite some time-maybe a couple of hours.

After some time reading, Zelda finally found herself bored and concerned. What in Hyrule was Ganondorf doing? She extinguished her light and exited the magic room, then tried to find a Gerudo to ask where the king was. Unfortunately, the interior group was on lunch break at this time of day, and there was nobody to be found. Zelda continued to search for the King by knocking on and opening various doors as she went along the vacant halls.

Eventually she found the throne room, interrupting the meeting. They all glanced at the door and Ganondorf waved his hand. "Alright, let whoever it is in.." He sighed with irritation. A serf that had remained in the throne room to attend those at the meeting opened it.

"Huh? Princess?" The king flipped around and looked over the side of his throne.

Zelda curtsied as best she could with no skirt to lift. "I apologize if I have interrupted anything," she said. "I hadn't seen the king in some time and became curious."

"I'm very busy right now, what did you want?" Daria and the other advisors stared at her.

"As I said, I was curious as to where you had vanished to and why," she replied calmly.

"Hm." He glanced at his advisors and nodded. "Meet the princess of Hyrule." They waited for her to step forward, not saying a thing to her.

Zelda approached the king and his advisors until she was standing only a few yards away from them. She pseudo-curtsied once again. "Princess Zelda," she said by way of, abruptly breaking off after finishing her name as if she wanted to say more, but didn't.

He smirked at his advisors and dismissed them. The serf stayed. "Princess," the king began, "It seems that you are already on their bad side, hm?"

"It would seem so," she replied with a faint frown. "Have you any idea why they might dislike me?"

"They believe your father killed many of our people with his refusal to trade; therefore, you must be a bastard child if from a man like him." He seemed unbothered. "It is clear that I do not think the same, but they think that I am on the same page as them." He offered her his hand. "Sit with me."

She took his hand and sat beside the King. "That is rather unfair of them... Have they not realized that I accepted your terms? Or that I have done nothing but leave Jerdana in peace for the past eight years?"

"Those facts do not matter to them." He looked away from her and closed his eyes, relaxing in his throne chair. "So, what have you been up to these past few hours?"

"I have been reading more about Ancient Gerudo and practicing speaking it. Unfortunately, I fear that my grasp of this language is worse than even my understanding of the Twilight Realm," she joked.

He smiled, almost laughing a little. "It is understandable. There really is no relation between then and now in my language. After the Great War, we had to adjust to understand those that surrounded us and make it easier for them to understand us."

Zelda nodded. "I understand that. Hylian has evolved since the Great War as well- become simplified and adopted versions of words from other languages. Such as _outna_—waterfall in Zora and Hylian."

"Yes, perhaps that is the only reason I know it so well." He laughed quietly, too lazy to defend himself from his own mistake in words. "Now," he look at her out of the corner of his eyes, not bothering to turn his head. "Have you yet had enough time to come forward with an answer, or are you still at a loss for words..?"

"I am still uncertain," she admitted. "In general, when I encounter a situation that I am uncomfortable in, I ignore it and pretend as if it will vanish as long as I avoid acknowledging it."

He chuckled. "I cannot believe that no man has ever confronted you upon such a subject... you are..." His voice fell to a purr. "If there was any way I could help you decide…"

"… I think that I simply… need more time, so to speak," she said slowly, carefully, choosing each word with the upmost of consideration. "A night to sleep on it…or something…"

His eyes didn't leave hers when he spoke, "You treat it like it is a decision of the court. I hate that." His eyes drifted towards the main doors. "It is clear that you dislike the idea wholly, without a second thought to spare. I get it though. I am the enemy."

"Everything in my life _has_ been a decision of the court, unfortunately. Even deeply personal matters—such as my father's death or my personal questions about my destiny—have been constantly scrutinized and turned against me in the bitterest of ways. Forgive me if my immediate thought process is toward the political ramifications of any commitment I make," Zelda explained, a faint bite entering her tone toward the end. "I do dislike the idea. In fact, I despise the concept, but in fascinatingly varying degrees. You see, the scars left on me by the Twilight War are not only physical. My mind is not entirely my own any longer."

His breathing slowed as he listened. "Hm... I could sometimes say the same-no longer having ownership of your own mind. But... how could you possibly despise the entire concept? You are, after all, young. Usually, ladies your age fancy the idea."

"As I said," she explained, "I have varying degrees of disdain. After the Twilight War, remnants of others remained within me. Midna, from the time we bonded as one, and... yourself."

His eyes widened at this and he glanced at her, sucking in a breath before whispering, "Myself?"

Suddenly extremely uncomfortable, Zelda stood and took a few steps away from Ganondorf. "Indeed. The aspects of Midna that were left behind loathe you and anything to do with you with a ferocity that I find terrifyingly powerful. The parts of you, on the other hand, are encouraging and elated that you finally came out and said it." She wrapped her arms around herself and grabbed her elbows, as if to hold herself together.

A lump caught in his throat and he swallowed, murmuring mostly to himself, "So Midna is the problem, hm?" He looked at Zelda and sat up straight a bit more. "Relax. I am not... angry." He closed his eyes for a second. "You should go find yourself some dinner."

She nodded, visibly relaxing and unwrapping her arms. "Thank you," she said. "I apologize if I am causing you any inconvenience."

"Go eat. I will join you in a few minutes." He tugged at the collar of his shirt and looked off into a corner of the room. Zelda nodded and exited the room, then made her way to the dining hall.

As soon as she had left, Ganondorf threw his crown to the floor and growled, "Dammit!" scaring the serf into a jump backward. He forced a breath out and ran his hands through his hair. "Fix it," he grunted before leaving his throne and making his way to his chambers. Once he arrived, he sat at his desk and looked through the papers, not really paying attention to them but rather trying to make an excuse for not joining anyone for dinner.

The king was interrupted by a knock. "It's Nabooru, your highness. May I enter?"

He aligned the papers and set them aside. "Of course-come in." He leaned back in his chair and watched as she entered. "Is something the matter?"

She shook her head and added, "No," before seating herself on a chair against the wall nearby. "Not for me anyway..." He shot a glare in her direction.

"No less than thirty minutes ago, one of the serfs walked into the holding on the edge of having a breakdown while holding your broken crown. I heard the negotiations were successful so I don't understand is why you got upset at all."

His eyes fell to gaze at the detail of the mahogany wood desktop. "It is none of your business, Nabooru."

She scoffed. "I've known you since I was born-I can tell when there's something else going on."

He sighed through his nose and glanced up at her before using his elbows to lean on the desk and hang his hands on the back of his neck. "I gave in." His voice was barley a whisper.


	5. IV

_"We were just strangers starting on a journey, never dreaming what we'd have to go through or how we would feel at the end of it all."_

Ganondorf sighed through his nose and glanced up at her before using his elbows to lean against the desk and hang his hands on the back of his neck. "I gave in to her." His voice was barely a whisper.

Nabooru seemed shocked and remained silent for a moment. "After all of those long hours of planning... Why?"

"It's been true for many years, but I simply cannot keep it from her."

"What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

He sat up again and stared off into space. "When I used her against Link, a part of me stuck with her; however, Midna also joined with her... Midna hates me, of course, but her emotions are so much more intense than mine. I never had the smallest crumb of chance. I can't redeem myself to her. It's over. Done." They were both silent.

Zelda felt very conspicuous sitting in her normal seat without Ganondorf beside her, especially when the gossip mill began to churn again among the Gerudo women assembled at the table. She ate in silence, avoiding looking anywhere but at her food until she had finished. Once she was done with her meal, she stood up and, with her book in hand and her head raised high, exited the dining room equally as silent. For a moment, she considered trying to locate Ganondorf and apologize and verbally sort out the emotions inside of her. But then she decided not to, and instead of taking the corridor that lead to the throne room or the hallway that ended in their bed chambers, Zelda headed once again for the staircase. She left the book on the bottom step and re-entered the seemingly empty hallway. Recalling from memory the location of the secret door, Zelda began to pay down every inch of the wall in hopes of triggering the door to open.

"You should not worry so fiercely about such a matter," Nabooru broke the silence.

"If I could help it, I wouldn't care about anyone at all," he got up out of his seat and walked over to her, continuing as he did, "Except yourself, of course-not to create another fight."

She nodded slightly before looking up at him. "Still… don't give up on her just yet. She doesn't know that you are just a man, and any other man in your position would make the same decisions, react no differently in your kinds of situations."

He leaned against the wall beside his friend. "Maybe I could make her forget Midna's thoughts and emotions."

She rolled her eyes. "That'd kill you for sure, besides, you don't know how to perform such a spell."

He swallowed, "I know, but I can learn… just as she is for me."

As she worked, the Princess just happened to look back at the book she had left on the staircase. And she suddenly felt quite guilty. Guilty for rejecting his kindness, guilty for having Midna inside of her to hate him, guilty for not knowing how she herself felt. After a last glance at the hidden door, Zelda straightened up, retrieved the book, and went back up the stairs. She passed the dining hall, throne room, magic room, and library along her way to the hall with her and Ganondorf's private chambers. With the assumption that he would be in there, Zelda reached out and tentatively knocked upon the door of his bedroom.

"You could, but I don't think you should change her. What if you take away the part of her that draws you to her?"

He shook his head. "I have to, I can't just let her think what someone else does. If I never try, I'll only re-" his voice broke off when there was a knock at the door. "Who is it..?"

"It is I," Zelda said from the other side of the door.

He looked at Nabooru and she shrugged. "Enter." He watched the door carefully. Zelda pushed the door open hesitantly, making the gap between the frame and the door itself just wide enough for her to slip through. She shut the door gently behind her and flashed both Ganondorf and Nabooru an awkward smile.

"Hello, Nabooru."

She nodded, "Princess." Ganondorf wouldn't remove his eyes from her. "Is there something you need?" Nabooru hesitantly asked in place of Ganondorf.

"I merely wanted to speak to the king. I can wait, however, if my timing is poor. I do not wish to interrupt," she explained, slowly inching back toward the door.

"No it's fine. We were done talking anyway," Nabooru glanced back up at Ganondorf before leaving the room.

"How was dinner?" He began.

"Uncomfortable," she admitted, setting the book down on a small table and stepping further into the room.

"Apologies.. I was busy at my desk this evening." He glanced at it, and cleared his throat a little.

"That's quite alright," she assured him. She came over to the bed and sat at the foot of it, staring thoughtfully at her hands folded in her lap. "I wanted to talk with you more about what we discussed earlier," she continued after several moments of silence. He suddenly showed some interest and took a step away from the wall and towards her.

"If this should be Midna's thoughts speaking through you, then you may leave."

Zelda shook her head. "No, it is not Midna. Even if it were, her personality traits merely interfere with my own, not take control. But it is just Princess Zelda speaking to you now."

He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "So..? What does the court think?"

"The reason I refused to make a decision is because I wish for the decision to be my own," she replied, a hint of impatience entering her tone. "I don not want to be influenced by anyone else's personality when I say 'yes' or 'no', and in the heat of the moment I was barely retaining my composure at all. I was hoping that perhaps, if I were able to discuss all of the emotions within me with somebody else, I would be able to sort out what is Midna, what is you, and what is me."

"Who did you have in mind?-to speak with about your conflicting emotions?" He seemed a little less upset after seeing her trying to sort things out.

"My initial thought was... you. So that perhaps you could understand..."

He stiffened at this. "I see..." Hesitating, he pulled the chair from the wall to the the edge of his bed and sat. He didn't have the slightest idea what to say to her. All he could do was listen and try to understand her, try to help her choose him.

Zelda exhaled loudly. "I admire and respect you, but I also loathe you. I feel betrayed, but also honored by the very fact that you have not killed me yet. I fear you, as I have seen with my own eyes what you are capable of. But then, on occasion, I feel far safer in your castle when you are nearby. Often I think that you are beyond all hope for the chance of becoming a good person, but then I sometimes see a glimmer of hope for you and I long to help you from the darkness you have sunk in."

He stared into the mess of his comforter and put his hand to his forehead to rub his temples. "I… what reason do you have to hate me? I did what I had to do for my people's survival-I get that the war has driven you into a corner. I can admit to that mistake, but that had more to do with your father-not you." He swallowed, "And… You have to understand that there are two sides of me. I..." he recalled Nabooru's words, "I am just a man. I did what any other man would have done. The part of me you see more than this… I cannot control that. It is not me if there are no words without hate."

"I understand your motivations quite well. In fact, I may have done the same were I in your position. I have come to believe, as well, that the monster I had the disprivlege of encountering is not under your control. However, I still cannot manage to forget it, nor can I entirely forgive you for your crimes against my people, Midna's people, and myself. However, I think that my own dislike of you is no more than disdain, which is where separating my and Midna's personalities is desperately necessary." She, too, put her hands to her head now. "And the worst, most confusing part of all is that I can hardly differentiate between what are my opinions, what are Midna's, and what are yours. They all seem to be mine, but I also know they are not."

He whispered now, "You could have said no to me. All odds have been set against me. You should know this. Yet you still feel the need to speak with me about it. I can only assume you're doing this because you do not wish to die." He looked into her eyes and sighed, "I cannot lie with what little emotions I can openly express. Zelda… I have no doubts. I could not kill you if it would save my own life."

She looked up slowly, her eyes meeting his wide with wonder. "Wait... what?" she breathed.

He pulled his gaze away and to look at nothing in particular. "I only hoped to make it seem so to your own. I need resources. You've seen the meals; we can't live off of so few third party imports. I am…" he paused and swallowed. "I apologize, but you can live here. I can protect you." He glanced at her. "...I" Stopping himself he stood and turned away. "Do not worry. You cannot control how you feel. Just as I cannot."

"Ganondorf," she said, sounding almost pleading, "talking through my issues has helped. Hearing yours has, too." She stood up from the bed and walked close to him, coming to stand beside him and lifting his broad left hand in her two slimmer palms. "I just... I wish that I could trust you, but I remain hesitant. Not because of what I've seen, but because there are terrible, terrible tales told of those who possess the Triforce of Power."

He pulled his hand away and glared down at her. "And that is not my fault. It is Ganon's, the demon's, the beast you all see. I wish that someone other than Nabooru could trust me, but that'd take a damn miracle, hm?"

"It is a blessing and a curse that all three of us must shoulder, and it burdens each in different ways. You are haunted by demons of the past, Link is hunted by a desperate sense of duty to all of Hyrule, and I am troubled by knowing far more than I should or than I want to." Her eyes flashed. "We all have our shadows, 'Lord Ganondorf'. Our value as people is how well we overcome them."

He voice almost faltered as he spoke, "If this here and now… if it isn't enough, then," he gazed down at her for a moment, "who am I to you?"

"A good man who could be great if he turned his back on the darkness once and for all," she replied solemnly.

He was silent for a long time before moving and leaning against a bed post. "What are your terms?" His voice was low and unsure.

Zelda did not follow him this time. "You simply... need to face it. Embrace Ganon, almost. Accept that it's part of who you are, and then tame it. The more you cage something, the more it fights to be free, after all."

He looked away, "You're insane-I'd change and never be able to return to normal."

"I don't think that's true. Link had struggles with becoming a wolf at first, but once he learned that his transformation was a part of his destiny—even after it was used against him—it became an asset. An asset that Ganon should recall quite clearly." She took a few steps to be closer to him again.

He forced a sigh and glanced down at her. "I should be sent further west if I should even dare to do such a thing. It would fight me over control."

Zelda was quiet for a moment. Thoughtful. "I was under the impression that Arbiter's Grounds was a safe place to trap something if need be. Link tells tales of several powerful monsters trapped within its chambers."

He stared at her and after a while, nodded. "I will depart tomorrow; however, I want you to stay here."

"What if your fears are not unfounded?" she protested.

"If I don't change, then I will return sooner than expected. If I do, then I may take some time... I suppose I just don't know how to accept it in the the manner you speak of."

"Do I merely leave you there to die a monster or to be killed by the next Hero that travels through there? Think of your people, think of Nabooru. Who will lead them if you can't? I am not powerless. If worst comes to worst, I have the ability to call favors from the Light Spirits, who can perhaps purge you of the creature."

He gave her a weird look when she spoke.. "I could kill you if I changed and I wouldn't be able to stop myself. On the other hand… you are right."

"Of course I am," she agreed, folding her arms with a bit of pride and defiance.

He straightened up a bit and gave her a small smile. "You should go get your rest-as should I."

Zelda nodded. "I will," she promised him. "See you in the morning," she added as she left the room for her own chambers, accidentally leaving the book behind. He closed the door after she left and sighed, taking off his shirt before walking past the table and sitting on the edge of his bed, letting down his hair. He pulled it back and looked at the door.

"This has been… quite the surprise," he thought to himself before falling back into the bed and relaxing. Just as he started to fall asleep, thunder rolled in, and rain joined it.

When Princess Zelda awoke the next morning, she immediately rose from her bed and set out to locate Nabooru. Ganondorf was awake when Zelda left, but he didn't bother to stop her. He only lay on his side and thought about how things might play out. He knew he had no control in the form of Ganon, but he wanted to trust her. He could kill her and she could kill him. Would it be a draw, or a sincere attempt to create solace for his demon? Stressed now, he turned on his back and sighed before sliding out of bed and dressing himself fully. As he was dressing into clean clothes, he noticed Zelda's book. He couldn't recognize it. Ganondorf picked up the book to examine it. Opening it, he read its title and smiled a little before finishing getting dressed and heading out the door with it, in no rush. It was a book of children's stories, written in the simplest Ancient Gerudo possible.

Nabooru had been walking through the hallways on her way to the dining hall, a few of her friends and coworkers conversing with her and others. "Nabooru!" Zelda said happily upon spotting the woman. She lifted her hand in greeting, hoping that Nabooru would understand that Zelda wished to speak with her.

"Princess-" Nabooru looked at her and slowed, waving her hand for Zelda to follow. "Come on, I hear we have cuckoo meat!"

Zelda smiled and hurried closer to Nabooru and the other Gerudo women. "Delicious," she replied enthusiastically.

She nodded and continued to lead her. "It's been months for us. The last meat trade went to Ganondorf for a private meal. He never fully explained."

"I see," Zelda said, not certain whether or not Ganondorf would appreciate her sharing that the cuccoo had been for her. "I am sure you are quite excited, then." Nabooru smiled and tugged Zelda's hand when they arrived at the dining hall. She insisted that Zelda sit with her to eat. The princess gladly sat down, happy to have someone to eat with. It didn't seem as if Ganondorf were coming to the meal again.

"So what did you and the King discuss last night?-or is that none of my business," she joked, her hylian a little off.

"We talked about you-know-who," Zelda replied amiably, trying to speak in Gerudo and partially butchering the language in her haste. She laughed a little at her own failure, but then returned to a more solemn state. "He and I are going to Arbiter's Grounds today to attempt to quell Ganon," she continued in Hylian, speaking quietly to keep their discussion even more confidential.

Nabooru was not humored, shocked by her Hylian spoken words. "S-Sorry," she shook her head, "I haven't heard a native speak Hylian in quite some time.. could you speak a little slower?"

"Oh, of course. I am sorry. Lord Ganondorf and I are going to Arbiter's Grounds to try and get rid of Ganon," she repeated, much slower. Hopefully she didn't sound too patronizing.

A smiled formed on Nabooru's lips before a laugh escaped her lips. "You're kidding, right?"

Zelda shook her head. "Not in the least."

Her smiled faded. "Princess, forgive me, but I can't let you even _try _ that. You'll get yourself killed." Her voice fell silent when the King entered the room and immediately spotted Zelda. His eyes were locked on hers-at least until the platters started to come around the corner, placing perfect portions for everyone. They all started to eat without another word, not even a single whisper of gossip. They seemed as if they were starved with the way they were going through their plates-all except for the king. He ate rather slowly compared to the Gerudo women. Zelda, too, ate slowly, but for her it was merely as a result of countless hours spent in etiquette lessons under her tutor.

"I am far more powerful than you may realize, Nabooru," Zelda whispered to her.

"And yet you stay here?" Nabooru whispered back.

"It is slightly more complicated than that." She looked down at her plate as if embarrassed.

She looked at her and nodded a little. "I know, but I also know there's no way of him getting his way. Especially if you're so powerful…" She stopped herself, remembering that the king's Triforce had gone dormant months ago when he had lost the battle against Hyrule's Hero-he could not use those powers and without them he wouldn't be able to return to his human state. She hoped whatever Zelda had in mind would work. Not speaking any further she continued eating.

"There is no risk to me," she assured Nabooru, "and it is possible that I may be able to use certain abilities of mine to get rid of the beast."

She swallowed and looked at her. "Just don't kill him. He is all we have. He's made this place a functioning kingdom." Her voice became quieter whenever the king glanced upward.

"At this point, I do not think I could kill him if I wanted to," she said humorlessly. "Besides, if anything does happen to him all of the Gerudo people have another prosperous kingdom they could join if they so choose."

She felt increasingly nervous with every doubt Zelda spit out about killing him. "I… we would be honored, but I hope we won't have to merge. Some of us really do care about his well-being."

"I know you do," she said softly. "For some reason, I do, too. That is why we are going to do this. To try to help him."

"You do? He didn't brainwash you, did he?" She was only half joking, the words she had exchanged with him the night before on her mind. He had wanted to rid her of Midna, of any resistance to him. "You're treating him like he is some fragile child. You should've learned by now. He could be tricking you or something."

Zelda smirked. "He once tricked three of the most powerful people in the universe into thinking he was dead. I have no doubt that he will attempt to fool me at some point. However, I am also the wielder of Nayru's Wisdom, and he will be hard pressed to slip anything past me again." She inhaled. "On the chance that his crimes were committed by the monster and not him, I have a duty to my people and to myself to try and save him."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm just warning you. I suppose there is a chance that he really is this soft about you. His feelings for you ar-"

"-ladies," Ganondorf spoke, glaring across the table of the two girls. "Aren't you enjoying your meal?"

Zelda jumped and recoiled slightly, suddenly realizing that their conversation had raised to a normal volume. She swallowed. "Er- yes, of course," she replied. Nabooru ate silently, trying to place all of the blame on Zelda and hide herself.

He nodded, "Good, then you can hush yourselves." He gave Zelda a look that said it all. He heard most everything they said.

Zelda stared back coolly. "Of course, Lord Ganondorf," she said, her voice harder and more distant than it had been in some time. They continued to eat in silence, everyone, including Nabooru, eventually leaving Zelda and Ganondorf alone at the table.

He cleared his throat, "So, when shall we leave?"

"I think we should depart immediately."

"You don't think you should write a will?" He rose from his seat and walked towards her, setting a book down beside her. "You left this in my room last night."

She looked at the book. "So I did."

He was silent for a moment. "I don't have any clue how long this could take. Would you like to pack anything?"

Zelda glanced down at her current clothes and shook her head. "No, I cannot think of anything I would need to pack. Others I know have gone months without changing clothes, after all. We may want to pack provisions, however. Neither of us has superhuman endurance that powerful."

He nodded and turned away, peering out into the hall to call in a serf. He asked for the things necessary before glancing over his shoulder at Zelda and tipped his jaw, signaling for her to join his side. She stood up and came to him, standing just within touching distance. She clasped her hands together behind her back and looked at the door. They didn't wait long, and the serf soon returned with a saddle pack full of their typical five-day survival items and goods. He took it and led Zelda through the halls and out the throne room's double doors to the front of the castle. He spoke in Gerudo to a guard to alert her of their leaving before whistling, calling over a giant black mare, already tacked. He carefully walked up to her and rubbed her neck before strapping the saddle pack onto her rump. Mounting the horse, he looked down at her and gave her his hand. "Ready?"

She reached up and took his hand, then swung into the saddle. She sat with her legs in a straddle and grinned. "One thing that I have always thought good about the Gerudo people," she said in a lighthearted tone, "is that your clothing is extremely freeing."

He smirked and glanced over his shoulder at her. "Hold on to me. She's a little rough to ride." He kicked her sides, sending her forward in a trot to maneuver her around the camp tags before nudging her into a gallop. Zelda put her hand loosely on Ganondorf's waist—his shoulder being a bit too high for her to hold comfortably—as the horse started to move. He had not been lying when he said that the mare was a bit of a rough ride, and Zelda rapidly came to the conclusion that she preferred Epona.

"How long will it take to travel to the prison?" she asked after several minutes of galloping.

"It should not take too long-a few hours depending on whether or not we run into any storms." He seemed a little nervous as he spoke. "The best pack we could get will last the two of us five days tops," he swallowed. "If nothing has changed by the time it is down to the fourth day, I want you to return on your own-or go back to Hyrule. It obviously wouldn't matter then."

She nodded, then realized that he probably could not see her. "Alright."

He was silent for a long time before he asked, "I hope you slept alright through the storm last night.. It was the first rain in months, I imagine the girls must've been making noise."

"No, they were not bad," Zelda replied. "If they were celebrating noisily, it was nowhere near our chambers. I slept quite well."

"Good," he replied awkwardly. There was another long stretch of silence, but was increasingly awkward this time. "I'm sure you must have someone close, in the same sense that Nabooru and I are, hm?"

"Well... no," she replied honestly. "My father and I were very close, but after his passing I was left mostly alone. I have always enjoyed disguising myself as a peasant and going among the people of Castle Town, but I have never been able to get close to anybody."

He wished he could feel guilty about her father. "Handmaids? Personal guards? What about your hero?" The word "hero" felt sour on his tongue.

She shrugged. "Royalty is treated differently in Hyrule than in Jerdana. There is a reverence that makes true relationships between a monarch and her servants difficult to be more than professional.

"As for Link..." she trailed off into silence. "Well, Link and I are complicated."

He noted that and slowed the horse after the passed the driest part of the desert. "Let me guess; they are complicated because of your conflicting emotions, right?"

"However did you guess?" she replied dryly, with a grimace.

He thought silently for a minute. "Just a feeling. I assume this suggests that he has... said something to you."

Zelda then sighed. "Midna developed very great feelings for Link while they were together, feelings that I myself do not reciprocate for reasons of my own. He is incredibly dedicated to me, almost obsessively so, but his heart lies torn in other places." She paused. "He has many demons, and the last thing I wish to do is add my own troubles to his."

He wanted to leave the conversation immediately. Maybe he was the naive one, begging for something that could never be. "I see. So I take it that you and Link are as unlikely as you and I?" He tried to sound professional.

She took her time in replying, watching the desert sand swirl around the ground as she thought of her answer. "If what I believe about Link is true, then the latter is far more likely," she said quietly, shifting her gaze to the painfully blue sky.

He was silent again, unsure how to respond or if he even should. Many minutes later, the giant building could be seen over the horizon, looking as if it was floating in a sea. Unfortunately, he knew it was a simple trick of the light. "Almost there." His voice was low.

Zelda leaned to the side in order to look at the dungeon around Ganondorf's wide back. "Is it true that it was once a place of worship for the Gerudo? A Temple of Light?"

"Where did you hear that?" He retorted sharply. "It was introduced to me as a coliseum of sorts. If you were a talented enough swordsman you could enter in competitions for bragging rights. People could put money down on your fight as well. I was a quick learner, therefore very high ranking among the women. I honestly don't know how it got here in the first place."

I do not know where I heard that, to tell the truth. But wherever I got the idea from, I was under the impression that before it was a coliseum or a prison, it was a temple used for worship and to test young Gerudo when they came of age," she mused. "In any case..."

Ganondorf slowed the horse once they were a few yards away from the building. "Are you ready..?" His voice was soft-not a good sign.

"I am," Zelda said firmly. She dismounted from the mare quickly, jumping the last feet to the ground.

He too dismounted and tied the horse to a pole for Zelda's use later. He then approached the entrance, panicked thoughts racing through his head. He stopped at the entrance and sighed with a glance down at Zelda. "If for some reason I die from this and the demon takes over for good, I want you to direct Nabooru to lead the Gerudo."

She nodded. "Of course. But nothing is going to happen."

"I'm not so sure." He entered the dim front entrance and flexed his marked hand out of Zelda's sight. The Triforce was clearly still there, but it just wouldn't work. He stepped further in. "I only change through anger. I don't know how to begin."

"Well, we first must go further in," Zelda said, gesturing to the dark opening of the prison with one hand. "However, once we are in perhaps I could try. I seem to be quite capable of irritating you when I wish to."

He nodded and continued further in. "Sometimes you can, but now that I know it's for a deliberate reason..."

"I think I can manage," she assured him as they came to the bottom of the steps and were greeted by a quicksand-filled cavern. He stepped back and glared at her.

"I wasn't exactly expecting this. I'm already far out enough not to find my way back in blind rage."

"The point is to trap you inside," Zelda explained. She reached out to the metal torch bracket on the wall nearby and spun it upside down. The wall it was on slid aside to reveal a small circle of golden light on the floor of the hidden alcove.

"This leads to the innermost chamber of the prison, located just below the Sages' plaza. If the monster does win, this will be the absolute safest place for it to be trapped."

Ganondorf felt a lump deep in his throat form, waiting for her to lead. "I hope you are sincere. This is a death sentence otherwise."

Zelda flashed him a fleeting smile. "I am. This is the same path the Sages had Link and I take to exit this place after Midna left. Would you like me to go first?"

"Please," he motioned. He almost felt sick to his stomach. The pain of transforming into his beast returning to his memory. Even when he had not minded risking the death of others to use it, stretching his body so large and pulling it back together again could be agonizing. Zelda looked at him carefully for a moment, gauging his honesty before taking a few steps forward into the circle of light. The yellow glow quickly spread up her body until she became a pillar of bright gold, then faded from sight altogether.

He took in a deep breath before following in her steps. The sensation was unusual, but manageable. Once they were together again he looked around and nodded. "This is it, huh?" They had come to stand in a wide circular cavern with a high roof and a sandy floor. Zelda swept her gaze around it and nodded.

"Yes, it is. Secure, no?"

He almost laughed at her question. "Yes, very." He walked towards the center and took off his crown and armor, leaving it less painful to change and easier for any magic to act on him. "Let's just... get this over with, hm?" He looked around, the area lifeless aside from the two of them.

"Alright. Stay here." Zelda walked around the stone ledge of the cavern for several yards, until she was a somewhat safe distance away from Ganondorf. Once there, she closed her eyes as if she were concentrating very hard on something and her hands began to faintly glow.

He sighed and glanced around impatiently. "I don't think this is working..."

Zelda cracked a bit of a smile. With her eyes still closed, she lifted both of her hands up into the air and began to trace the shape of a thin sliver of moon in the air. Molten gold seemed to come off of her fingers as she drew, like she was painting the air, and the liquid-like substance soon took the shape of a large and familiar golden bow. The sight of it made the king stiffen, but he didn't say anything. He only watched her. She repeated the motions to create a trio of arrows floating beside the bow. She clapped her hands together to extinguish their glow, then–with a careful eye on Ganondorf–reached to take the weapons in hand. She deliberately nocked an arrow and lifted the bow up to point at Ganondorf's heart.

He stepped back and narrow his eyes. "What are you doing Zelda?-tell me!"

With a stony face, Zelda drew back the bowstring and fired the arrow. It flew quickly toward the Gerudo King, and then stopped midair only inches away from him to hover.

He didn't move, holding his breath and waiting for the shock of pain. But nothing came. He looked at his chest to find it untouched, then he looked up to notice the arrow floating. His eyes widened a little before returned his view to Zelda. "You tricked me?" His voice was a low growl. "I did not agree to coming here just to your to play your games with me." He tried to calm himself naturally, but it didn't work. This was a life or death moment for him.

"Oh, Great Goddesses, I am so sorry!" the Princess cried melodramatically, lowering the bow and placing her free hand over her heart. "Perhaps if I had known that it would frighten you so I would have done something far less extreme." A smile was struggling to break through her intensely-apologetic facade. Zelda was not going to lie to herself—she was amused by his reaction. It was entertaining to know that someone as powerful as he could be terrified by a small girl and her bow. "Weak," she murmured, knowing that Ganon valued power and strength over all else.

He cracked a smirk, his eyes glowing white and his incisors growing. He was already beginning to change so he couldn't express his pain. "Weak? Heh... **_WEAK_**?" He growled and groaned in irrepressible pain as his body changed before the princess's eyes, a strange light surround him before a roar was spoken and the smoke cleared. He had to be nearly thirty feet tall in this form, but virtually blind. He grunted and slammed his body against the wall, clearly frustrated. Suddenly she was far less amused. Zelda flicked her hand over her head, yanking a small stone platform out of the wall, then swept both arms through the air and spun slightly to vanish. She reappeared a foot or so above the platform and dropped to her knees the moment she landed. Her breath came in pants as she pressed her palms together in prayer; working magic like this was not easy on her body.

Ganon wouldn't stop screaming for a while, just trying to escape. He was so desperate to leave that he was causing his own injuries scraping his hide along the jagged rock walls and slamming his head against them. Looking around he couldn't see the princess and almost lost all sensibility, pacing around the perimeter.

In the atrium above the massive boar and the Princess, the medallions atop five of the six towers began to glow. They pulsated silently for a moment, then released several thin rays of light that landed in a single focal point on the ground. It took a moment, but the light soon passed through the floor and continued its trajectory toward the Princess. She held out her hands with her palms facing the rampaging monster and shouted: "Be still, creature!" before a jet of the pure, blindingly white light blasted from her hands to envelop Ganon. Hopefully it would work...

His breathing increased its pace and he attempted to back away from the source of the brightness, unable to move much for his huge size. It hurt far more than anything else he had ever felt in this form. Suddenly, Ganon's breathing stopped and it fell to its stomach, dark red blood dripping from its mouth. The eyes closed and the Triforce of Power on the back of his paw flashed briefly before dying away. Silence flooded into the room. Zelda, high above the floor in her perch, collapsed on the platform in an un-regal heap, also breathing heavily. After a moment, she recovered enough to half sit up and look at Ganon with curiosity and concern. The body of the beast twitched and slackly started to revert back to the king's human body. Immediately its eyes shot open and it tried to lift itself off the ground only to collapse again. It was in pure agony. Every few seconds it would stop changing until the light surrounded it again. Pained cries erupted from his throat once his human body returned. Every shriek made the princess flinch, until finally it was over and Ganondorf lay there on the ground. He collapsed and gasped for air, too weak to even open his eyes. He had lived; of course, he was covered in wounds, but it was manageable.

Zelda used her magic to lower herself down to floor level and stumbled across the chamber to reach the king. She put a hand on his shoulder when she knelt at his side. "Are you alright?" she asked, scanning his body and noting several of the largest wounds.

He swallowed and continued to gasp for air he forced open his eyes and looked up at the princess to laugh a little. "I don't feel it anymore..." His words were broken up, but understandable. "It wor-" he coughed, blood coming up, be he seemed relieved if anything. "It worked," he whispered.

"That is great. Now shut up while I try and fix you," she said, running her hands along his body to find his largest wounds. There were so many, and every one of them was technically her fault. Zelda laid her hands on the largest of them all, a long and deep gash that ran the length of his leg, and closed her eyes again. A great shudder of effort ran through her as she poured the energy needed for magic into her hands and then into Ganondorf's wound, hoping to heal it at least partway.

Ganondorf groaned and struggled to push himself up a bit. "P-Please don't waste your energy on me. I'll be okay... I can handle this manually." With a burst of energy, he flipped himself onto his back and caught the last of his breath he needed. "In the saddle pack... there's a needle and a black thread... I need you to get it for me..."

She seemed hesitant, but Zelda quickly rose from his side and stumble-jogged to the circle of light still glowing on the floor where they came in. Several minutes after she had vanished, she reappeared carrying the aforementioned sewing supplies and brought them to Ganondorf. "I do not think you completely understand the severity of your wounds."

He tore off a piece of his already wrecked shirt and wrapped it tightly around his right leg. He took the supplies, his heart thumping heavily in his chest. Sliding the needle under his skin, he threaded the end and pulled it through, wincing at the sensation. "I-I'll be alright." He continued to stitch it, groaning in pain and stopping to breathe after it was sewn together. There were many more. "I need to get back to the castle... I can't do this all in one sitting."

Zelda nodded. "Can you walk?" she asked with a glance at the portal. If she could just get him on the black mare, she knew enough about horseback riding to get them safely back to the castle.

He swallowed and rotated, getting on his hands and knees. He managed to push himself on to his feet before he stumbled, falling back to his hands and knees. "Just... hold on..." He sucked in a deep breath and leaned one leg over the other. "Hardly…" He just continued to bleed. Some of his wounds rather deep. He gasped and stumbled before regaining some balance. "Let's hurry…"

Though she wasn't particularly strong, Zelda found herself able to support Ganondorf just long enough to situate him atop his mare outside. Before mounting herself, Zelda dug out two food rations and three water rations, giving Ganondorf one of the former, two of the latter, and quickly consuming the others herself. Then she mounted the horse in front of the King, took the reins, and kicked the horse into motion.

He could hardly stay awake throughout the journey back, fading in and out of consciousness. He was slowly bleeding out, but he did not let himself sleep all the while. He wanted to live now that he had a better chance. "Z-Zelda…"

"We are almost there," she promised him. "I will get you back to the castle. Drink."

He struggled to stay upright on his own horse and opened the canteen, managing to swallow some. "I j-just wanted to say... thank you..."

She would have smiled, had the situation not been so dire. "Of course," she replied. Thankfully, it was not too much longer after that the towers of the castle loomed into sight. Zelda spurred the mare to gallop even faster and hoped that the Gerudo had been watching for their king's return. As they entered, the women noticed the blood dripping from the horse. That was the king behind her.

"Get off the horse and back away from the king," threatened a Gerudo woman in her own language, reaching for her blades. The king winced as he shifted his gut.

"No-she's helping," he breathed. The Gerudo exchanged glances and nodded, a group of them stepping forward to help the heavily injured king off of his horse and lead him inside. They were taking him to his chambers to soak his wounds in his private bath.

The princess dismounted from the horse and made a move as if to follow Ganondorf, but she collapsed with a faint cry the moment her feet touched the ground.

Nabooru happened to run outside trying to figure out what the commotion was about and found Zelda when she saw the horse. "Princess…" She rushed to her and knelt in front of her. "Are you okay?"

Zelda pushed herself into an undignified, slouching sitting-up position and put her hand on her head. "I- I believe so..." she replied shakily. She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her head and her vision, but only succeeded in making herself slightly dizzy. "I just need to rest. I used a lot of my own energy for the magic."

Nabooru sighed, slightly panicky, and called over some girls to help her carry Zelda inside. "What happened to you both?" They headed for her chambers' bed room.

"W-we got rid of the beast," Zelda explained. "I managed to convince the Sages to lend me their power for a moment to cleanse the king of the creature while it was on the surface."

"It worked then...?" He eyes were full of shock. Before Zelda had time to respond she was rushed into the chambers and then set her down on the bed. "You need to relax." She sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. "How is he covered in wounds and you're not?"

"Well, I technically attacked him," Zelda explained with a faint wince, gaining strength now that she was relaxing more. "I am exhausted because I used much of my magic to channel the Sages', but I targeted Ganon with very powerful Light Magic."

Nabooru shook her head in disbelief. "He should be dead right now. As should you." she added with a glare. "This was a step on the edge for you both.. I don't want that happening again."

Zelda chuckled a little bit. "I have no plans to repeat the experience," she assured Nabooru. "And yet, it is worth acknowledging that the goddesses have spared us both."

She smiled and nodded. "So what did you end up doing then to survive? He'd kill me for sure-I have no doubts, but instead you managed to come back with him limping. Usually it never gets nearly as bad for him."

"I made him angry, and while he was in his beast form I combined the magical power of the ancient Sages with my own to create a... Light bath, shall we say. From what I can tell, the beast Ganon is made up of Shadow Magic. When exposed to that much Light Magic while it was so vulnerable has either driven it deep enough into Ganondorf's soul that it will never escape or obliterated it entirely."

"I see," she looked at her. "You were gone for quite some time, but less than I thought you would be. Do you need me to send you up any food or water?"

"Water would be wonderful, but I think the best cure for what ails me is sleep," she said with a faint smile. "Thank you for everything, Nabooru," she continued. She nodded and left her alone. The king had been stitch up, hot bathed and put to bed for healing. He wasn't in good shape, and he had nothing to keep the pain of his injuries away.

Zelda fell asleep herself, her fatigue overpowering everything else, but after a little while she awoke with a start and a feeling of urgency. She tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep without success, so she instead rose from the bed. Her clothes were spectacularly sandy, so she took care to shake the pants and shirt out thoroughly before changing back into the short, clean dress. Then she exited her room in order to enter Ganondorf's. She opened the door slowly, not inclined to see him naked if she could prevent it. Luckily, all she saw when she opened the door was a dim room, so she entered. She found Ganondorf lying on his bed wrapped in bandages. His breathing was labored, and when she brushed her hand over his forehead it felt hot. Whatever the Gerudo women had done to try and heal their king, it was not working. Since she was feeling refreshed after her sleep, Zelda sat down on the bed beside Ganondorf and laid both hands on his body. She felt the healing magic start to flow.

His breathing changed a little, waking him from his light slumber. As the healing started to work, pain shot through his veins, making him groan, "S-Stop." He hadn't felt pain this real in a long time.

Zelda pulled her hands back quickly. "I am sorry. How are you feeling?"

He didn't have energy to glare at her and just glanced up at her. "Like crap," he breathed bluntly, "but I feel... human." He coughed a little and swallowed. "Y-You seem to have recovered."

"I was merely tired," she explained. "It took lots of energy to channel and focus that much magic. I apologize for wounding you," she added.

"Don't apologize," he whispered before gazing up at her. "You were merely trying to help me..." His blood was seeping through some of the bandages around his body, but he could only breathe in shorter, slower breaths to try and soothe the pain.

"Here," she interrupted, putting her hands on his chest and stomach again. "Let me heal you, like I was before."

He flinched at her touch then smiled a little at her as if she was crazy. "No." Leaning his head back he closed his eyes and almost whispered, "Go to sleep, you need your rest."

Zelda blinked at him quietly. "I got plenty of rest. And you are bleeding again, plus you have a fever and quite possibly infections. Magic can help."

He sighed, breaking it off suddenly because of the pain. "Can't you make it less… painful?" His body couldn't take the pain. He'd probably slip into some traumatic instantaneous dysentery if her 'treatments' continued.

"I can try to make the process slower. That should hurt less." She hesitantly put her hands on Ganondorf once again and began to slowly feed energy through her fingertips. The pleasant warmth was only in her fingers, rather than burning hot across her whole hand, so she assumed that it would be at least slightly less painful for the King.

He groaned a bit but gasped a little a said, "B-better. It's less focused n..." He flexed at the natural pain of speaking. But it did not compare to the pain of her magic rushing through his body. He glared at her. "I could imagine you laughing if it were you before the war. All of my pain would pleasure you, I'm sure." His voice was a stutter and a whisper, but he wanted to take his mind off of the pain a bit.

Zelda's face did not move from being pointed at her hands, nor did her gaze. "I would not laugh. It would not please me," she replied in a flat voice. "I am not cruel."

"It's n-not a matter of you being cruel or not, just revenge, don't you thin-" His voice faded before he gasped and leaned his head over the other side of the bed, breaking her connection with his wounds to cough up older blood and mucus-as if his body was trying to clear itself of its injuries. He caught his breath and leaned back on his stomach, whispering exhaustedly, "S-Sorry

Zelda simply put her hands back on to him. "Immediately after the war, did I rejoice in the fact that I believed you were dead? Of course. And if you turned your power against Hyrule again, would I take pleasure in leading the charge to your obliteration? I will not deny it. But I do not believe in torture."

He smiled at her. "Then why help me? You'd gladly kill me... for everything I've done." It was as if he had given up when he said, "It'd be easy right here, right now. I'm already dying. I have no power..." His voice was a broken up whisper.

"I have come to believe," Zelda said in a low voice, "that neither you nor Nabooru were lying when you said that all of your crimes were committed by the darkness that had overtaken you. Why would I kill in cold blood someone who is innocent?"

"So you're just... fixing a mistake..." He was silent for a moment, letting the pain wash through him in waves, causing uncomfortable groans to slip. "I-I'll have a horse prepared for you after breakfast this morning." He closed his eyes, "You may... return to Hyrule."

She sucked in a sharp breath, though her hands and magic remained steady. "What do you mean?" she asked, not bothering to try and conceal the hope in her voice.

"There's no use imprisoning you in my castle. You can bathe and pack whatever you need, then you may return to your homelands-sort out and fix everything." He coughed again but kept his lips shut to hush it. "I won't stop you."

"Why?" Zelda breathed.

You've made it clear to me that your answer is no-to everything." He swallowed. "I have never been, and will never be a man who forces himself on a woman, not even if only for an answer." His body became a little limp as the pain became lesser and lesser as the waves came. "I'll draw back my army... I'll leave you alone." He weakly smirked and whispered. "I suppose you could say that I surrender-I've given up."

She shook her head vigorously, as if to clear it. "I thought I had already said yes," she said with surprise.

He forced a breath of air out. "I am no child. I can tell in the way you speak that your words now are false. I'm just a man you've almost killed in cold blood. You don't want me to die this way. Not by your hands," he whispered.

"Or by any others," she finished for him, abruptly removing her hands after speaking. "There. Your wounds should be healed and closed all but for the largest one on your leg," she told him coldly.

His breathing was still irregular, but better. "Thank you." his voice was barely audible, noticing that she was slightly upset for some reason. "I'm sorry."

Zelda slid off the bed and stood up. "When Princess Midna was dying, her character improved," she said with a scornful chuckle. "However, if you are fine with my leaving," she continued, turning around to face the king, "you can tell me where my Hero is."

He closed his eyes and flopped onto his side so that his injured leg was closer to the ceiling. "I do not know. He was not a concern, just an obstacle when I first captured you." He coughed again, but luckily no fresh blood was coming up. He didn't fight her about leaving, though he wanted to take it back. He had loved her…

"And what did you do with the 'obstacle'?" she asked, her face blank to his coughing.

He shot her a glare. "Your hero is fine-whatever was necessary to bring you back here was all that was done. Chances are that you've already seen everything I've done to him."

Zelda narrowed her eyes. "I did not _see_ you do anything," she pointed out sharply.

He sighed and corrected, "Through the monsters-what Ganon did." He painfully forced himself to sit up on the edge of the bed. "I don't want you to leave, but I can't stop you either, now can I..?" A fight was not on the list of things he wanted to experience with her-or anyone right now.

"Ganon or Ganondorf, whichever did it. Before me you were one and the same." Her face was shadowed, and for the first time she looked truly angry. She lifted the hem of her skirt and wiped her hands on it, meaning it as a mere sign of disrespect but instead actually wiping smudges of Ganondor's blood on to it. "But I am closer to Link than I am to any other. I know my Hero, and I know what I requested of him. He should have come and destroyed the palace door days ago, and I have the feeling you know what happened to him."

He was silent for a long moment, glaring daggers at her. "I haven't seen him, alright?" His voice was almost a snarl. Suddenly he stood but stumbled right away, having to catch himself on the wall. He couldn't put any weight on his leg. "You said yes to me. Why?" If she was closer to Link it didn't make sense that she said yes to Ganondorf. Unless she just pitied him.

"Because it was the right choice," she replied solemnly.

"The right choice?" He looked saddened more than angry now, but he fought against showing any of it. "What do you mean?" His voice was hollow.

Zelda smiled a little sadly. "You should know by now that I do not show or speak of my emotions like others do."

He gazed at her and thought through her words. He just could not figure her out. "Neither have I in my past, but I suppose you broke me. Somehow I caved, and now you know how I feel about things." He threw on a robe over his soaked, torn clothes and leaned on his back, his palms pressing against the cold wall.

"Hmm," she hummed, her eyes flicking down from his face to his hands. "I do know," she said thoughtfully. Her eyes lifted to meet the king's again, but their cobalt depths were unreadable. Without another word, she slowly turned around and walked toward the door. She kept stealing glances at the hem of her skirt and the floor just behind her, as if she wanted to look back but refused herself the privilege.

He watched her leave and didn't say anything until she left. It was a whisper, but the goodbye was heavy. He was convinced she hated him still and would leave. He had to distract himself-forget about it. It numbed his mind anyway, and when he returned to bed, he noticed that the cold had returned. He laid awake for the rest of the night.


	6. V

**_Update September 25: The line breaks in the original document did not transfer into 's formatting, so I added those in the way they should be. This should be easier to read now. Enjoy!_**

* * *

_I'm out here in the dark all alone and wide awake. Come and find me. I'm empty and I'm cold, and my heart's about to break. Come and find me._

Zelda was also unable to sleep, but for her it was a matter of thought rather than mere emptiness. What was Ganondorf hiding from her? What had happened to Link? Was he... was he in the castle? With a start, Zelda suddenly remembered locating the door at the bottom of the staircase. She jumped from her bed and left her chambers. She quickly reached the bottom of the staircase and headed straight for where the wall was. Hopefully with Ganon's demise the charms protecting the hidden doorway would have lifted some. She scratched at the edges of the door jamb and pounded on the door with the hope that it would open.

"Come on," she murmured to it urgently.

_His thoughts were smashed together like soup-he assumed like many other times that it was just another hallucination, the scratching at the main door. He blocked it out as best he could, clenching his bloody fists as he waited for it to stop. It wouldn't. He wanted to cry, but he had no water in his system to do so. He no longer pulled at the chains that raised and restricted his hands in the air, nor the chains that bound his feet to the wet, ice cold floor. The air was musty and humid, but it was nice sometimes-it would soothe the pain from the iron that had burned his throat not too long ago. He could not scream, only breathe, and sometimes hardly that. He was alive somehow, yet he was covering in wounds: burns, cuts, gashes, bruises. He wanted to die. He didn't want the pain anymore. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry... he tried and he failed._

Zelda continued working on the door, scratching it, pushing gently, punching it, and finally kicking the bottom of it. A deep grinding noise filled the castle hall and the dungeons behind it as the wall shifted inward, then ground out of sight to the side. Its absence revealed a narrow, dark, and grimy stone hall with barred doors branching off of it every few feet. Zelda stepped in carefully, letting her eyes adjust before slowly walking down the corridor and looking in the cells as she went. The Princess made it as far as the final cell before she saw an occupied room.

"Link!" she shrieked when she saw him hanging broken and bloody on the wall. She didn't bother to use any delicate magic to pick the lock, instead opting to kick the rusty door in. It fell with a loud clatter, and the Princess wasted no time in walking over it to reach the Hero.

"Link, Link, Link, I am so sorry. I am so sorry that I did not find you sooner," she mumbled through tears as she grabbed the chains at his ankles and started to wriggle their locks open.

He turned his head and closed his eyes tightly. "N-No stop this-I don't want to see it anymore!" He thought she was a hallucination. With another look at his eyes, it was clear that he had gone blind in his own right. He glanced back at her and swallowed, "You're not real... you're not real..."

"No, Link, I am real. I am real. I promise I am real," she swore, taking his left hand in hers and placing her right hand gently on the least wounded part of his cheek she could find. "I am real, and I am going to get you out of here."

He flinched back roughly when she touched his cheek, and shook his head. "D-Dammit, I know your tricks! Please just kill me... Please… I can't take this anymore... " He started to shiver, the only form of crying he could express. He was terrified.

Zelda choked back her own sob and went back to work on his chains, this time in silence. Perhaps he would awaken to her once he had been freed, and until then she had little time to waste attempting to convince him. Despite her shaky hands and blurred vision, Zelda was soon able to open the heavy ankle cuffs. She slipped each off its respective leg, then moved on to his wrists. She had to press her body against Link's to reach the cuffs, covering her dress in sweat and blood, but her concern over that paled in comparison to the feeling of his torso tightening against hers and trying to pull away.

"It will all be okay," she felt inclined to murmur in his ear.

He tried to move away from her but couldn't, and as his wrist chains were removed, he slid to the ground, shivering still. "Thank you," he repeated over and over, thinking that it was a Gerudo woman finally taking him away to be executed.

Zelda sat down facing Link. "Link, it is I. Princess Zelda," she said urgently. Though he could not see them, her eyes were begging him to return to reality. She was here. This time, she would be his Hero.

He paused and weakly reached up, placing hand on hers and looking at her up and down.. "Gerudo clothes," he whispered, too injured to yell again. He breathed deeply and pleaded for the Gerudo woman to get it over with.

"Dammit, Link, I am not Gerudo and I am not going to kill you. Just... just get up, you big idiot," Zelda insisted, not even caring how much like Midna she sounded.

He shakily pushed himself up to his feet, practically holding onto the wall. "P-Please..." He trembled and a tear slipped from his eye. "It's over. I failed Zelda, Hyrule-everyone. I can't..." His voice shook as he cried, every twist making a little more blood seep out of his wounds.

"You did not fail anybody, Link. And you never will, as long as you keep fighting. Take my hand, and I will get us both out of here," Zelda repeated, standing up and offering her hand to the young man. "Come on, Link. I know you can do it."

Reluctantly, he placed his hand in hers. His fingertips had dried blood on them, bleeding from underneath his wedged fingernails. He didn't seem to recognize her as a reality yet, and let her lead his mindless frame outside of the cell.

She carefully guided Link out of his cell and into the hallway. They both looked distinctly out of place—grimy, bloody blots against the pristine stucco and tile of the palace. The pair of them slipped up the stairs like snail-paced ghosts, silent as shadows but moving only one stair at a time thanks to Link's injuries. He gasped in pain every few steps, stopping half way and sliding back to the ground. "I can't..."

"But Link, you must," Zelda insisted, kneeling on the stair next to him. "We have to leave before Ganondorf reawakens and imprisons us both."

He sucked in a breath and heaved himself back into his feet, continuing to struggle of the stairs. But when they finally reached the top, Nabooru was walking towards them from the first, Zelda considered trying to salvage the situation by avoiding Nabooru. Unfortunately, just as she was thinking of escape routes, she and the Gerudo made eye contact. Zelda clenched the fist she wasn't using to supportLink and stared Nabooru down, challenging the woman to stop her.

She raised a brow and glanced around. "...How did you find him?"

"You knew where he was?" Zelda answered, her voice dangerously low.

She nodded and looked at him. "Ganondorf forgot about him." Carefully, she took a step toward them. "Look, I know a way out where no guards will see you." She was acting quickly. They didn't have much time until dawn.

Zelda narrowed her eyes. "Nabooru, forgive me for not entirely trusting you."

She sighed. "You're going to have to."

Zelda swallowed, debating her options. Trust Nabooru, who had been nothing but honest with her all along, or distrust Nabooru, who had also known about Link and defended Ganondorf from the beginning. "Fine," Zelda choked out eventually. "Where must we go?"

The Gerudo turned to lead them, glancing back every few seconds to make sure they were keeping up with her. "Just down this hall, a right, and in a guest room there is a staircase the leads down." Once they arrived she quickly and quietly closed the door before taking them around the corner. A long staircase lead into shadows. "Once down there, you can follow the tunnel through. You should come up to ground beside a red flag. Follow the direction of the winds and you should make it to Hyrule traveling eastward."

Zelda nodded once. "Thank you, Nabooru," she said quickly in Gerudo before ducking into the staircase with Link. She offered him encouraging words all the way down the stairs. Once they reached the tunnel, the heat set in. Link started to shut down a little, having hard time keeping himself up as they walked. He leaned against the dirty walls and sighed shakily, "H-How much longer..."

"I do not know," she answered honestly. "Rest here for a moment," she suggested. Zelda helped Link lower himself to the floor of the tunnel and sat down beside him. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't know," he looked at her. "How did you find me..?" He was losing his voice.

Zelda shrugged. "Intuition, I suppose. And a little magic." She paused. "You only need nod or shake your head to answer: Are you at least feeling a little better?" He nodded, white and lightning blue reflecting in her endless pupils. He looked down at his body. He was covered in blood-his own blood.

"Let me know when you are ready to move on," she told him softly. Then she closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall at their backs, breathing peacefully.

He nodded a little and pulled his hair away from his face. Taking in a few deep breaths, he looked at Zelda and tapped her shoulder. "We should hurry," he wheezed.

She stood up immediately and offered her hand to him. "Agreed. Let's continue."

He pulled himself up and walked a little better-in immense pain-but managed to pull most of his own weight anyway. They travels through the tunnel until a gust of cold air rushed past them. Immediately, Link stumbled outside and called for Epona. She didn't come-he needed his woodwind. "Dammit," he breathed before giving onto his knees.

The Princess once again crouched with him. "Is there any of that grass nearby?" she asked, scanning the blueish-silver tinged ground around them. It was then that she noticed the sky beginning to lighten, an ever-so-faint paling of the deep blue night on the horizon. "Look for it as we walk," she corrected herself. "We must get somewhere safe before light. Castle Town is nearest; I will take you to Telma."

He looked at the princess and nodded, beginning to recognize reality more and more. Fighting his pains, he pushed himself up onto his feet and continued forward, limping a bit across the brutal landscape. His breathing picked up far faster than normal. Zelda guided him through the fields, pausing to take a quick glance in every patch of grass or shrubs that could contain one of the special stems Link could use to call Epona. Unfortunately, she found none until she and Link were stumbling into the western gate of Castle Town. Thankfully it was still dark and there were none of the townspeople milling around. Zelda and Link were able to sneak through the streets and into the pit of Telma's bar unnoticed. The princess knocked hurriedly at the heavy wooden door and waited with bated breath, praying that Telma was awake so early. The goddesses must have wanted their Hero alive, because after only a few moments the barmaid opened the door.

"Link, you're alive!" Telma cried happily. She reached out to hug him, but paused when she realized he was wounded. "Oh my…" Her worry showed through her voice as she invited them in. She didn't recognize the princess with her simple hair and Gerudo clothes, but automatically trusted her as she did with all of Link's various companions. Telma guided Link to a chair. He collapsed into it gratefully, staining the fabric that hung from the ratty frame. "What happened?"

"We were both kidnapped, and Link was tortured. We escaped imprisonment from a castle in the West and walked here across the fields," the princess quickly explained, watching Telma carefully the entire time to gage her reactions. "Do you have any red potion we could give him?"

Telma's eyes went wide and her hand flew to her busty chest. "Of course I do, sweetheart. I'll be right back." She hurried behind the bar counter to pick out a glass bottle of the bitter red liquid. She rushed back to the quiet Hero's side and placed it in front of him on the table. Link stared at it for a long moment, swallowing against the torn flesh of his throat.

"Thank you," he rasped before taking the bottle and swallowing the whole thing. It all went down in a few gulps, setting his entire body on fire. He wanted to choke and cough it back up, but he knew he needed it.

"Whatever you two did, it worked. The army retreated a few hours before you two showed up here." She prepared two glasses of water and handed one to each of the travelers.

Zelda took the water with a nod of thanks. "Army?" she asked, sounding surprised and alarmed. Had the Gerudo been occupying Hyrule in her absence? Telma nodded.

"The women and moblins backed off for a while, but later a lot more showed up ready for a fight." She sighed as she continued. "They burned most of the east side of Castle Town and were moving on to the south bit, but all of a sudden they up and left." She shook her head wearily. "It's a wonder they never got around to destroying the castle."

The princess gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth. "He lied to me," she hissed through her fingers. "How dare I allow myself to trust him?" She turned abruptly away from Telma and Link, throwing her hand down to her side and looking frustrated.

Link gave her a strange look. "Lied?" His voice was still hoarse, but improving as the red poition worked on him. "How long has it been?"

"Four days," Zelda replied, looking back at her friend as she spoke.

He stared at her a moment longer. "You weren't imprisoned, were you?" It took her a moment to reply.

"Not like you were," she finally said.

"What did he do to you?"

Zelda smirked humorlessly. "Funny part is, he did not truly do anything. He threatened me often, but he barely touched me." Link seemed relieved.

"Good."

"Honey, if anyone tries to touch you, I'll personally dismember them," Telma interjected. Zelda smiled faintly and mouthed a silent thank you to her. A moment of quiet passed before Link spoke up again.

"Telma, I hope I'm not too much of a burden. I only need to stay here to recover."

She shook her head. "Oh, no, Honey, stay here as long as you'd like. You're no bother to me." Her smile showed sincerity. Relaxed more, Link took another drink from his glass.

"Thank you very much, Telma," Zelda said, turning back around and pacing toward them again. She sat down on the arm of Link's chair and noticed the crusty blood on her own clothes for the first time. "Do you have any spare clothing lying around? Once the shops open in the morning I can purchase my own, but for now…" She trailed off and lifted the corner of the fabric with her finger. Telma nodded and offered her hand.

"Come on and I can find something for you." Link stared at his glass.

"I'll be fine, you go clean up." He sipped again and weakly smiled up at them for reassurance. Telma led Zelda up and opened a door to a crowded closet, looking through the mess of clothes within.

"You look just fine apart from the bags under your eyes and the blood on your clothes. I'd expect at least a few bruises, based on Link's condition." Zelda smiled faintly, running her fingers through her tangled and nappy hair to try and comb it out.

"Fortunately my torture was limited to psychological trials rather than physical ones. Had Link and my position been exchanged, I doubt either of us would have resisted as effectively as we did."

Telma pulled out a pair of light brown pants and a yellow sundress for her. "This is all I've got that'll fit you… I hope it will suffice." She unlocked a room and opened the door for Zelda. "Come on down to the bar when you're ready and I'll have something warm for you to eat. You must be starving."

"Wonderful. Thank you once again, Telma." When the woman had left, Zelda changed out of her Gerudo clothing and into the sundress, leaving the pants off for now. She used a damp cloth to clean her face and arms, then finished finger-combing her hair until it was at its usual tidy state. She finally felt a little bit like the Princess of Hyrule again by the time she descended the stairs. "How are you wounds?" she asked Link immediately after arriving there. He looked up at her.

"Improved. They still hurt. The red potion mostly numbs them and speeds up the healing process." He moved his eyes to Telma in the back heating up water to make some sort of soup and smiled a little. "I was delusional, wasn't I? I hope I didn't scare you," he added softly.

Zelda shook her head. "Not in the truest sense of fear. Mostly I was worried that you would never return to yourself. Midna would never forgive me if I allowed you to be destroyed like that," she added with a regretful smile.

"What did they do to you?"

Link looked down at his glass and closed his eyes. "It began with bread and a pan of water… Every few hours a woman would come into my cell and force me to regurgitate the food I had just been given. Sometimes they would beat me, but that was only when they had my hands behind my back and my ankles chained to the ground." He was silent for a moment. "Then they chained my wrists up. They came less often, but stayed longer, inviting friends even. It was like they were playing a game, seeing how much I'd change or react to a slice or a stab or a slap. It was obvious they never wanted to kill me, always missing the important organs inside…

"I had lost any sense of time by then. After a while a girl I hadn't seen before showed up. She brought an iron rod and some kind of powder that burned blue." Swallowing hard, he forced himself to continue with difficulty. "She heated the rod in flames and then she... she pressed it against my ski. I cried out, but no one heard me. I tried to scream louder, hoping there was someone sane enough to save me within earshot. That's when she shoved the rod down my throat to shut me up." A tear slipped as he recalled the pain.

"No one visited me afterward for what seemed like forever. And then _he_ came. He tried to choke me and interrogated me about Midna, asked me where she was. I told him I didn't know over and over, but he didn't believe me. So he took some kind of wooden wedge out from his pocket and pushed it under my nail—" his breath shuddered and he broke off. "I told him I didn't know how to get back to her, to her homeland. I lost it then. I had no hope to survive that, no way I was going to escape from there. I had no choice but to give up. I wanted to say sorry. I wanted to beg for your forgiveness." His voice wavered again.

"I started seeing you walk by my cell, wave, and leave me alone to the pain again. Over and over. You never talked to me. You just… left. It went on for what felt like days and I slowly realized that you weren't real. My mind was turning against me, my body shutting itself down…

"Finally you came for real. You found me. It still feels unreal."

Zelda bit her lip. "I am sorry that I did not find you sooner," she apologized, her voice heavy with sorrow. "But this is real, I promise you that. If Ganondorf tries to kidnap us again I won't hesitate to fight him outright." Link lifted his eyes to find hers.

"I'm sorry, Zelda. I'm so sorry. I did ask you asked, I followed you… but they caught me, could've killed me. It could have been you in that cell later."

"Nothing could have happened to me apart from what did happen, Link. I am sorry that my own plan failed you," Zelda said just as Telma walked into the room carrying two bowls filled with soup. She looked up at Zelda with a clearly concerned expression that asked if they were okay, and if she should leave. Zelda rose to take the two bowls, but offered the barmaid a smile that welcomed her to stay.

"Telma, have you heard anything of the princess?" she asked as she turned around to give Link a bowl.

Telma sighed and shook her head. "Poor thing disappeared when she was being taken away somewhere safer. So much for that, huh? The damned council's never done anything to help her." Link poked at his bean soup listlessly. He knew he should eat, but he just wasn't hungry.

"No, they have not," Zelda replied. She shot a look at Link and commanded him to eat. She took a small bite of her own stew; it was delicious, rich and flavorful like nothing the Gerudo had eaten. He scowled and began to do so, starting with broth and smaller pieces of solids. The red potion had worked well enough to reduce his throat pain a little bit. He swallowed quickly, everything in his digestive system in too much pain to savor it.

"It makes you wonder how differently things would have played out in the last war if the Princess were in charge," Zelda continued.

Telma nodded. "I heard that ever since her father died, the council has completely rejected every suggestion she has put on the table." Zelda laughed huffily underneath her breath.

"Indeed. Only one suggestion of hers has ever passed unperverted, and that one had exactly zero consequence on Hyrule's operation."

The barmaid seemed shocked. "You must be kidding! How did you know that and I didn't?"

"Yeah," Link quietly interjected. "Telmat hears it all." They both looked at Zelda expectantly, Link managing to muster up a knowing smile. The princess sighed.

"Telma, I really must apologize for not being entirely straightforward with you. I am Princess Zelda."

"Princess!" Her eyes were wide and she quickly bowed her head. Zelda herself was surprised that she had not been found out far sooner—at least her overly formal speech patterns were distinct from common Hylian, even if she concealed her identity in every other way like she was. "I apologize for my disrespect." Link shook his head unnoticeably and returned to his soup, still looking amused. Zelda also shook her head.

"No, you have not disrespected me in the least, Telma," she assured her with a small laugh and a comforting smile. "It is pleasant to be treated as a peer among companions. You have been wonderful." She reached out to take one of Telma's hands and give it a brief squeeze. Telma returned the smile and nodded.

"Sure, Hon. If you want anything else, just ask and I'll be happy to help. I should be opening soon, so let the boy rest. He needs to heal." Zelda stood obediently, her half-empty bowl of stew in hand. She gathered the empty water glasses as well.

"Of course. May I accompany you downstairs to the bar? Perhaps I can help you clean up or serve customers somehow?"

"If you want to you can," Telma replied. "Sometimes the men might give a pretty girl like yourself a hard time though, so be careful how close you step one direction or another." She looked at Link and winked, not blind to how he'd feel if someone made a move on the princess. He pushed himself up weakly and nodded to tell them they could leave. Telma pulled Zelda from the room, leaving Link some peace to rest up in. Once downstairs, she pulled out a cloth and started rubbing the floor a bit where Link and Zelda had smudged bloody footprints into the wood.

Zelda stood by awkwardly without a clue what to do. Not only was she unfamiliar with the operations of a bar, but she had never actually done any manual labor before. She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels as she patiently awaited instruction. Hopefully Telma would not hesitate to boss her around.

After the floor seemed clean enough, Telma flipped the sign outside her door to open and pulled Zelda behind the bar with her. She explained each of the drinks. "Finally, this one is Lon Lon milk. Easily the most popular drink here. But I don't allow it as a mixer, it causes too much trouble. Also, there's no smoking allowed in my bar. If you see a cigar, let me know and I'll tell them to put it out or scram. Think you got it?" Zelda nodded.

"I think so." She smiled.

"Good." Telma returned her smile. "I'll try to keep things under control for you," she added with a wink.

"Your Highness…"

Ganondorf's eyes flickered up to the serf standing over him before he sunk back in his throne. He seemed to have fallen into a doze right there. "Yes?"

"Your prisoner… and Princess Zelda," she said, her voice urgent but uncertain. She feared what news she bore. "They're gone." The king did not seem pleased, but he did not burst into a rage like he normally would have. Instead, he spent a moment in quiet thought.

"Thank you for notifying me."

The serf seemed confused. "Sir? What actions should we take to retrieve them?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but spoke the wrong word. "None."

"Forgive me Your Highness, but I would highly recommend—"

"You're forgiven," he interrupted, sending her a glare. She hesitated to nod, but then bowed and walked away. He was left alone in his massive and ornate throne room. His golden eyes blurred and his limbs numbed as he lost himself in thought. Zelda must have taken Link. Found him and stolen him out of Jerdana. They were likely back in Hyrule by now, or at least close, where they would put their lives back together and forget everything that had happened over the last week. But Ganondorf…

The king no longer had the same motivation he once did. He was half Gerudo, half Hylian, and completely mortal. Back to the way he had been as a child. He may as well have been a child. He had no idea what to do besides think, and he could only think of Zelda. His mind went foggy before he sighed and stood to face the back door, where the serf was obligated to stand at all times.

"Serf." She turned halfway to see him. "Prepare a group. Warriors only. I want a dispatch to Hyrule Castle Town with myself personally in the lead. Make sure they understand that a battle ready appearance is necessary, but only for show."

"For show?" The serf covered her mouth quickly, bowing as apology for speaking freely. The king ignored it.

"I need the Princess here. She may bring her belongings, a friend or two, handmaids, whatever makes her comfortable." The serf nodded and bowed from the room, scrambling away much quicker this time. Ganondorf turned his face to gaze at the massive front doors to the room and sighed.

"Let her finish mending what holds me together, or take it away and watch me fall to dust."

**_AN: Is there any interest in a music playlist to be associated with this fanfiction? I certainly have one that I could create, an interesting blend of pop music, instrumentals, classic rock, and basically every other music genre ever that fits perfectly with the themes and scenes of the writing. PM me or comment if you have intrest, and maybe I can add it to the prologue chapter._**


	7. VI

It was not long after Zelda's rapid training that a group of men came in, giving the new girl glances. They piled into the bar seats and asked for their drinks, leaning back and chuckling while they waited.

"You look kinda familiar, beautiful. What'cha doing working in a rat hole like this?" one of them asked.

"Me? Familiar?" Zelda replied as she mixed their beverages to the best of her ability. No one could know who she was. "How could that be when I just arrived in Castle Town early this morning?" A different man in the group—one with coarser features and a rougher voice—reached for her hand when she set down their drinks.

"Are you free after work?" He had an ugly smile.

Zelda jerked her hand away from him and drew it back as if to strike him. "No!" she cried. She made a movement as if she were actually going to slap the man, but stopped herself before she swung her arm. Instead she swooped her hand down to sweep up the rupees he had dropped on the counter and dump them in the register, not bothering to calculate any change for his blue and yellow gems.

He narrowed his eyes. "Ey, bitch, where's the change?" The curse caught Telma's attention, and she rushed to the princess' side.

"Is everything alright hear, Dear?" Her voice was calm

"No," the man answered in Zelda's place. "She stole my money," he growled, standing up a bit."Calm down," Telma smoothed in her thick voice. "We'll get you back your change in a minute."

"Get outta this, woman. This is between me and her." He reached across the counter and wrapped his hand around Zelda's upper arm like a vice. She was pulled toward him with a yank. Telma narrowed her eyes and quickly pulled a small switchblade out of her apron. Even if Zelda hadn't been royalty, no man was allowed to treat a girl that way in her presence.

"Get out of my bar." He glared at Telma's knife for a moment longer before slowly letting go of Zelda and leaning backwards. He stood up, gathered his groupies around him with a shout, and gruffly left the bar.

Telma didn't say a word as they exited, but after they were gone she sighed a little and set to picking up their mugs. Zelda frowned, unhappy to have disappointed Telma and upset to have been in that situation in the first place. She joined Telma in scooping up their used glasses and washing them all in the basin. It was still early in the night, so it took a little while for the next group to show up. Fortunately for the princess, they seemed more decent.

"One double-L-M for our gentleman here!" they cried, shoving a young man up to the bar. Telma poured the milk into a glass for Zelda, who passed it down to the man who asked for it. He handed it to the younger fellow, who egged him on until he tipped back the glass and swallowed the whole thing. They celebrated, and Zelda found herself smirking. Was this the way normal men proved who was worthy? After he'd finished guzzling, the rest of the group turned to the bar and started asking for drinks for everyone. Telma poured while Zelda passed them out. The man who first spoke paid her for all the beverages. "Thanks, cutie." He gave her a charming grin.

"You are welcome," she replied with a smile of her own. "It is truly my pleasure." He gave her a joking wink before continuing to mess around hand have fun.

Once everyone had what they wanted, Zelda watched them cheer and laugh and enjoy themselves with a pleasant smile on her face. She was enjoying helping, even if she was terrible at it, and it was good to see people living as they did normally. She rarely got the privilege of seeing her subjects as relaxed as they were now; normally she was only ever able to interact with them in a court setting, where every formality imaginable was followed without fail. Here, however, where nobody knew whom she was, they were unafraid to curse or belch or laugh loudly or shout to their friends across the room. The sense of instantaneous companionship made the princess feel very happy.

She washed the dishes quietly in the midst of the hubbub, simply allowing herself to absorb it all. This time would soon come to an end—with the council still imprisoned or dead at the hands of the Gerudo, Zelda was the only person of authority left in the kingdom. She would have to return to the castle soon.

That was when a smaller group of people came rushing inside. Telma's Bar was the place for gossip, and they certainly had some. They shoved through the men to sit at the bar counter and spoke mostly to Telma.

"They're back, but this time without monsters. 'Cept the king's there too. They're demanding Princess Zelda or else they're gonna make war."

"We thought Zelda was with them, but guess not," another added.

A third sighed and looked at Zelda. "It's terrible. We're already drowning in smoke and rubble from what they did to the east side. If they attack again, it'll be the end of Hyrule."

"Who is demanding Zelda?" Zelda asked, her voice filled with deep concern and some surprise. She already knew the answer to the question, of course—it was Ganondorf and his Gerudo come to take her back for freeing Link—but she felt the need to hear someone say his name for it to be true. One of them gave her a tired look, as if he was surprised she did not know.

"The Gerudo king. Lord Ganondorf."

He sat on his horse, holding his bandaged leg and watching the horizon. Their horses were positioned at the border, hooftips on the line between Jerdana and Hyrule.

"You should turn away. There's no use after what you did to Link," Nabooru warned, her eyes also fixed on the fields.

"It wasn't me who did it," Ganondorf reminded her bitterly. "I'm hoping she understands what you find it impossible to." Nabooru rolled her eyes at him.

"This has gone far enough, you idiot. You're not special to her."

She wasn't convincing him.

"Should I fetch Link?" Telma asked. Zelda shook her head.

"No. He will blame himself if he cannot fight, and he is far too weak to even try. I have no other option but to sacrifice myself," she explained as she stacked glasses beside the washbasin. They almost got knocked over by her elbow as the princess reached for a towel with shaky hands. She caught them just in time, then continued speaking quietly. "Tell him for me that the boar is dead, and Power is gone."

Telma reached out to her and held her arms gently. "Honey, are you okay?" Stupid question. "I can't just let you go. Link would just go after you again and this whole mess will repeat."

"Telma," Zelda said empathetically, hoping to impress upon the woman how serious she was. "I need you to keep Link here. He must heal, and I doubt he would survive a second experience like his first." She looked for sincerity in the princess' eyes and nodded when she found it.

"Alright, I will. I swear. Just be careful, Hon. Hyrule needs you."

Zelda nodded, her mouth curved into a small, regretful smile. "Of course." Dutiful as ever, she took the cleaned cups and hurriedly stowed them in their appropriate place before abandoning her post behind the bar counter and going upstairs. When there, she packed the pants Telma had given her to go with the dress and her Gerudo clothing in a rough bag. She scribbled the words 'I am sorry' on to a scrappy napkin and left it at Link's bedside, then returned to the main bar area to say goodbye to Telma.

"Thank you once again for your hospitality and help," she told her. It was hard to hear over the noise of the guests, but Telma nodded with understanding.

"You better come back sometime soon."

"I will return when I can," she promised. After a last moment looking at Telma and the happy bar, Zelda turned and left. She realized once outside that she really did not know where the Gerudo were. However, the bar customer had spoken almost as if they were everywhere. She was sure to encounter one soon enough, and unlike the Hyrulians the Gerudo knew how she looked in nearly any attire. Zelda stepped into the street outside Telma's Bar and headed for the town square.

From the square, Zelda left the city the same way she'd come into it with Link only a few hours before: through the West gate and back toward the Jerdana border. Hyrule Field was empty of all life, monsters included. As if even Farore's lowest feared the Gerudo King.

A few miles ahead, Nabooru was snapping at Ganondorf. "We should go. She's not coming." She seemed annoyed.

Ganondorf would not leave so easily. It would strip down the respect his own people gave him and decimate the fear Hyrulians held of hi. Yet he could not return to war again either. He rubbed his leg and exhaled.

"We wait."

Zelda continued to walk through Hyrule field until she saw the Gerudo army, a lumpy mass of foot soldiers standing on a ridge with their toes barely within the border. As soon as she was within earshot, Zelda stopped moving. "I thought you had told me I could leave," she shouted to the king. A breeze swept by her, blowing her sunset-lit skirt and hair around.

"I've changed my mind," he called back. "But this time, you get privileges." He dismounted his mare and stepped up to the border. "You may take your belongings with you, your handmaids, and if you'd like you may choose two friends to join you. Excluding, of course, the Hero. I would even consider visits with him, however…"

"However what?" Zelda asked grimly, furious with herself for even standing there and listening to his ridiculous demands.

"All meetings with Link will be held in the throne room. There's a chance I can lighten up if you obey." He tilted his chin up, waiting for her response. He was prepared for the venom in her voice.

"Please, do tell, why would I _ever_ agree to this?" she scoffed, looking Ganondorf in the eye and hoping she had called the bluff she thought she heard. Nabooru walked over to her king and whispered something in his ear before returning to her place. He looked as if he'd said no to what she proposed.

"I'm not saying that you would. I'm making the conditions better." He returned direct eye contact. "Your country is weakened anyway, is it not? Could I not be of service by merging our two kingdoms?"

"We can recover on our own," she snapped. "There is very little Hyrule has to gain from Jerdana."

"I asked a question to make the merge seem opportunistic. I didn't give you a choice whether or not it would happen," he retorted. "Rise!" he shouted back. The Gerudo behind him unsheathed their numerous scimitars and readied themselves. "Now please, I'm trying to be pleasant."

Zelda took an involuntarily step backward, recoiling from the appearance of the weapons. Suddenly, Ganondorf's threat felt much more real. "Tell your women to sheathe their swords," she told him.

He stepped forward, the army staying behind him as he exposed himself. "Princess, please allow this situation some decency. Come with me, and I'll back down from Hyrule and begin a peaceful, progressive merge of the kingdoms." She clenched her teeth together and stared at Ganondorf with narrowed eyes. It was clear that she was angry. For a moment, she even looked as if she were considering turning away or attacking the king herself.

"Fine," she eventually spat, her voice a knife and a bludgeon in one. "Tell your women to stand down." Ganondorf waved his hand a certain way and they returned their weapons to the sheathes quietly.

"Good. Don't be so sour, now." He turned away and mounted his horse, clucking at it to start into a canter and pulling back as it came up beside Zelda. The golden brown horse from before was attached to his by rope reins. Still frowning, the princess mounted. She vowed to be as sour as she could manage, and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

Ganondorf turned the horses and kicked them into an easy gallop. "You found the boy. I'd like to better explain the situation so perhaps I will not look like a demon again in your eyes. The demon that you fully expelled, mind you." He glanced at her. "After I was changed, I honestly forgot about his imprisonment. I only remembered when you brought it up, but you were so delicate then."

"I am never so delicate that it is appropriate to lie to me."

"You expected me to tell the straight truth about something so horrible?" He sighed. "You need to wake up and realize that your world is far too small. You take me as your enemy and yet you were the one who saved me from my dark heart."

Zelda lifted an eyebrow. "You think I did that entirely for you?"

He bit his cheek. "No, I think you did it for yourself." He kicked the horse to move a little faster. "If you had done it for me, you would have stayed."

"Oh, so you are not as entirely self-centered as I had thought. Good," she replied tersely.

"I wouldn't have to be if you weren't so naïve." He bit his words off. "If you want to take it back, feel free to. I'll collapse with this wound as I age anyway, and wouldn't that just give you delight?"

"How am I _naïve_?"

He gave her a look. "You just are." He didn't have to explain to her. Why bother when she would be more than happy to abandon him in a burning building? His gaze returned forward, watching the horizon of the desert as they traveled. Zelda sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically before falling silent.

"Now what?" she asked after a while of quiet riding. Ganondorf glanced at her.

"Nothing. I have no plans, no plots against you. I'll find time to explain when we arrive." He paused. "After I figure out a few things, we can discuss who it is you would like to stay with you, along with any choice of handmaids and possessions."

She eyed him carefully, trying to detect any trickery. He seemed honest. "I am still unwilling to forgive you for what you did to Link." He sighed heavily.

"It wasn't me," he mumbled mostly to himself. "They were operating under my past command." He raised his voice for her to hear and continued. "Whether or not you forgave me doesn't change anything. It still happened." Zelda blinked and did not respond. Honestly, she was unsure of how to reply. Ganondorf was pleased when she couldn't come up with something rude to say to him.

"I'm not proud of the past I am bound to, but it is, after all, the past. You can despise Ganon all you want, but don't patronize me." His voice became softer as he spoke, as if he didn't want the women to hear the weakness in his tone.

"You were the face of Ganon for some time. It is difficult to grow past that," she reminded him flatly. "May I have the reins to my own horse?"

"Can I trust that you won't run off?" He smirked over his shoulder and slowed the horses a tad as their surroundings dried and withered, marking the approach of the desert lands.

"You threatened my people. I could have walked out on Zant any time I wished, but he held a knife over my entire kingdom. Despite whatever I may feel, my duty is always to the people of Hyrule first and foremost." He wanted to believe her, but he knew he couldn't. But he had nothing to lose.

"Fine."

He pulled out a small knife and cut the ties between the two horses. He slipped the blade back into his pocket and pulled away from hers a bit. Zelda was tempted to take the opportunity to pull away from the group. So, so tempted. However, every word she had spoken was true. Perhaps he would never bring himself to injure her personally, but as far as she knew Ganondorf's disregard for life had not changed with the purge of Ganon. It was not a risk she could take. Instead, Zelda picked up the horse's pace and nudged it forward slightly to continue galloping right alongside the king. As their journey continued, Ganondorf only glanced at her. No other interaction between them occurred.

"We're almost there."

Link woke up startled. It sounded like there was a bar fight occurring below him. Sighing, he peeled the sheets off of him. He had been sweating profusely, but it didn't feel like fever. He pushed himself into a sitting position, feeling worse than ever. He pulled his shirt off to inspect his wounds and felt the air thin when he noticed an infection. "Damn," he breathed before forcing himself on to his feet. As he stood, he noticed her note.

"Zelda…" He immediately sat back down. "No, no, no, no… Zelda…" His voice faded. A little angry with Telma for letting her go, he sprung up and hurried downstairs, holding on to the wall along the way for balance. "Hey!" he shouted at her with his half-gone voice, making her jump. "Where is she?"

Telma sighed and pushed her way through to reach him. "She had to leave. Ganondorf was threatening her with another attack." He slid down to the step and slowly exhaled.

"Ganondorf took her again?"

She nodded, sitting beside him once she noticed his breathing troubles. "Calm down. You need to get back to bed. You shouldn't be on your feet at all, and Zelda specifically asked me to take care of you." Link let her lift him up and drag him back upstairs.

"So it was unreal after all."

They were greeted calmly once they entered he main grounds, and Ganondorf lead Zelda to the gate. He stopped his horse and slid off of it carefully, trying not to further damage his leg. He waited for Zelda to stop and offered her his hand. He would be as polite to her as her own people were, even if their customs were strange to him. He let her gently pet the horse, then guided her inside.

"You may choose your rooms. Though the best situation is where you were before, you may pick another room for privacy reasons." He did his best to hide the stabbing pain in his leg, forcing himself to walk normally when it would cause him to limp. He kept his eyes on her for a moment before slowing, letting her pull ahead of him. He took the chance to stop and rub his leg wound in an attempt to soothe it, then caught up and guided her into the throne room. He sank back in the throne, looking up at the princess.

"No, the room I was in before is fine. Thank you for your offer, however," she replied, distantly polite. She turned away to glance out the window from where she stood.

"Of course." He figured some time alone would help her readjust to Jerdana, but he knew he was asking a lot of her. A little more freedom had been granted to her this time, and it worried him that she might take advantage of him and escape. Swallowing away his pains, he wondered at what she was thinking of in her silence. He really was trying to change, to fit to the shape of a man Zelda would want in her life, but he doubted she believed in his efforts.

Zelda took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. She tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear just to give herself something to do before she turned around to face Ganondorf and took a few steps closer to him.

"Why did you change your mind about letting me go?" she asked, sounding only slightly accusing.

He glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled a little. "I'm not sure." His voice was quite. "Go settle yourself into your rooms. Take as much time as you need. Nothing is going on today," he dismissed.

"Helpful answer," she grumbled beneath her breath. Without another word, the Princess turned and walked out of the throne room. She made her way to her old bedroom slowly, still toying with the idea of an escape. However, she reached the door before she made any motion toward freedom, so she just went inside. The room seemed to be just as she had left it, though it had been tidied and cleaned in her one-day absence. Zelda stepped over to the window and pulled the curtains all the way to the side for the first time, then dragged a chair across the room so she could sit there in front of the barren view. As soon as the heavy doors had closed behind her back, shutting out the sound and light from the halls, Nabooru stepped from the shadows behind the throne to stand beside Ganondorf.

"She asks a good question."

"I meant what I said. Every thought in my head has changed since Ganon was attacked. I don't know exactly what it is that draws me to her. It is no longer lust like it was before."

Nabooru watched his golden eyes focus on the doors. "You didn't want to bring her back. You knew she'd still hate it here. You believe she always will."

"But I want to be with her. _I_, Ganondorf, want to be with _her_. Not the Triforce. Not her body. I can't explain it…" His voice faded. Speaking interrupted his thoughts, and the ideas fluttering around in his mind intrigued him most of all.

She poked his arm and smirked. "Is Ganondorf getting soft?" He shot her a mild glare and sighed.

"Of course not. I'm just confused. Leave it alone."

The curve of Nabooru's lips faded before she bent down and whispered in his hear: "Allow me to clarify. Just give up on her. Why not just fall for someone… more like yourself?" He moved his ear away from her and looked into her eyes. He did not respond, just gazing with a layer of disapproval on his face. Nabooru pushed herself away from him with the arm of the throne and left, leaving the king sitting alone.

The king closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. What the hell? All this time he had been opening up to his childhood friend about his cloaked emotions and personal thoughts, and she had never returned anything until now. And it was the exact opposite of what he had wanted from her. Dammit. His eyes fell to his leg wound, throbbing painfully against the stitches. He needed Zelda to finish the healing, but there was no way she could ever bring herself to touch him again, much less help him. Now on top of the princess' scorn, his closest friend was suggesting something that would have once appealed to him but was now revolting.

It wasn't that Nabooru was ugly—no, she was the epitome of beauty and strength and sex appeal—but she was his childhood friend. The thought sickened him.

Zelda, on the other hand… Zelda was beautiful and soft, not strong in body but ironclad in her willpower. She cared so deeply and drew from her own limited power to spread gifts, but when she needed to she was cold and sharp as shards of ice. She had this spark, an energy for life inside of her that drew Ganondorf to her. She had all the traits the king wished he could reciprocate, but somehow they had ended up becoming full-blown and rage-burnt enemies. He hated it…

Soon enough, the princess had become bored. She could almost imagine Hyrule Castle's spires peeking over the eastern horizon, but the blinding sand and harsh blue sky made her eyes hurt. There was nothing alive out there in the desert. How Jerdana had survived this long in such an environment was beyond her. They needed Hyrule desperately.

She stood, hunger pulling at her stomach. She left her room with the intentions of going to the kitchen for a snack, but realized all too quickly that she had no clue where she was going. The princess resorted to opening every door in the halls, at least until a Gerudo guard stepped from an adjoining path and pointed a spear at the princess.

"Stop!" she cried, speaking her own language. "You shouldn't be here without an escort."

"That is not what Lord Ganondorf told me," Zelda replied in Gerudo.

The guard narrowed her eyes and looked the princess up and down. "Mhmm." She poked the Hylian's jaw with the flat of her spear. It did not hurt her, but it did give the guard an opportunity to scan her with disgust. "Humph." She spit at Zelda's feet and turned away. "Stay out of my way."

Zelda folded her arms defensively. "I would stay out of _my_ way, if I were you. If Hyrule and Jerdana merge as your king wishes, I will be your queen." The Gerudo rolled her eyes.

"I find that unlikely, conceited mutt. It's a wonder he keeps bringing you back like you're his pet or something."

"I would never have come in the first place if he had not made a threat against all that I care for."

This gave the guard pause. She turned around to face the princess. "You've fallen apart," she growled. "How many are even left alive in Hyrule, hm? Drunkards, all of them, I'm sure. They're so afraid that they have to drink it away with alcohol. Dogs, you Hyrulians are." Zelda smirked to conceal the anger growing in her throat.

"Come now," she replied, her tone painfully patronizing, "would the goddesses have chosen to bless a kingdom of dogs? And need I point out that it was Jerdana's king that Ganon chose to become a blemish on all that exists?"

"The goddesses are fools," the guard hissed before turning around to leave. "Our king has no place as a person among the Gerudo. Without the destiny of the Triforce on him now, Ganondorf should be dead as he already is to most of us. Ganon was our king."

She had no response, so Zelda let the woman go. After the Gerudo had vanished, Zelda's hunger had faded, leaving in its place an uncomfortable and definitely undesired concern for Ganondorf. Despite her misgivings, she knocked on the door of the throne room. Inside, the king flinched at the knock's echo around the room. He had a pretty good idea of who it was and sighed at the thought. He did not want to speak with her. It was silent for a good minute before he spoke so she could here.

"Enter." His eyes stayed frozen on the door. Zelda pushed it aside and stepped in.

"Ganondorf," she said, skipping a greeting. "I thought you might like to know that some of your women—a good number of them if she spoke the truth—are not entirely loyal to you."

Things just got worse for him, didn't they? "Is that so…?" He sounded apathetic. Unconcerned.

"Yes," Zelda replied. She shut the door behind herself and walked further into the room, coming to stand only a little ways in front of the king. "They are under the impression that the only thing that made you a worthy king was Ganon and the Triforce of Power he wielded." A smile tempted his lips as he met her gaze.

"Princess, perhaps they're right." His eyes traced her frame from the shoulders down before he realized that she wasn't really scared of him—she wasn't trembling or stiff or standing in any of the ways that fear shows itself. He slowly stood up the same fashion he had when he first made her his captive and took a step toward the princess. Zelda stood her ground, uncertain of her intention but also unwilling to back down.

"I doubt it. Ganon is rather mindless, a demon fueled by reasonless emotion. However, I have seen you take many actions that were purely strategic. Tactical. They have been the moves of a human."

Ganondorf's fingers curled as he lifted his right hand to her neck, letting his nails gently brush against her skin. The Princess quivered slightly at his touch, and goosebumps rose in the wake of his fingers. "Ganon is a demon full of rage. One I could not control. You may be right." His eyes pulled away from hers and followed his hand. "All I know is the separation from thinking with the heart and thinking with the mind. I wondered for many years who I was, and if we were the same. Whether one side was jealous, and the other…" He was silent for a moment, pulling his hand away and again finding her eyes.

"I know the difference now, so forgive me when I cannot tell you why I brought you back to my castle. I can, however, assure you that my intentions were not my own and are no longer the same."

Despite herself, Zelda found her mouth curving into a knowing smile. "I understand. We have both had similar experiences with our minds and bodies not always being in our own command."

"Yes," Ganondorf whispered before turning away and returning to his throne. His voice raised to a more confident tone. "You may eat dinner alone tonight." Zelda lifted her chin.

"May I eat in my room?"

He sat in the throne and looked at her, briefly wondering if he should join her. "You may." Remaining silent, he carefully watched her reactions to his words. Zelda nodded, doing her best to remain impassive but unable to keep her surprise completely concealed.

"You understand that you are a former prisoner. You do not have the room service you may be accustomed to. You'll have to wait at the table until your meal is brought to you, and then you may take it to your room. I am not saying that I personally wouldn't allow you personal service. It is simply because of the hostility some of the girls show toward you," he added in a lower volume. Zelda took a slow, deep breath.

"I understand. I have to admit that I am confused by their resentment of me, however."

"News and rumors travel quickly among the Gerudo. They could be angry that you were the one to kill Ganon."

"Hopefully I can win back their approval somehow. If it does end up that we marry to cement the merge between Hyrule and Jerdana, it does no good for half the kingdom to hate their queen." The thought gave Ganondorf pause. Who _would_ be the queen? Zelda, the woman the king wanted, or Nabooru, the woman the Gerudo would most likely put up with.

"You should go and find yourself something to eat before they stop serving."

"Of course. Thank you again." She turned and left quickly, making a beeline for the dining hall. The moment she entered, a sudden hush fell over the Gerudo women assembled there. It was nothing less than what Zelda had expected. Not making eye contact with any of them, Zelda stepped over to the table and loaded a plate with food for her meal before turning and taking it away.

She had intended to sit down and eat at the desk, Zelda found herself once again drawn to the window. She took a fruit off her plate and drifted over to the glass, gazing out at the stunning landscape. Suddenly, the blandness of the desert sand had become the perfect backdrop for a Technicolor sunset sky. The princess slowly sank into her chair to marvel at it, beginning to understand the Gerudo's love for their home. But as the glory of the sunset faded into inky darkness, she found herself thinking about hat the Gerudo guard had said. How many Hylians had been lost in the Twilight War? Dozens had been butchered in Zant's original onslaught against the castle, but as the Twilight spread across Hyrule and encompassedthe land, how may further casualties had ensued. Dozens? Hundreds? To her horror, Zelda had to admit to herself that she did not actually know the number of people that had died as a result of her surrender. The councilmen had kept it from her; women were too fragile to hear the statistics of war. She couldn't accept not knowing any more.

Zelda stood and went directly to Ganondorf's door. She tapped on it quietly, knowing that he would hear it if he were awake. The king sighed heavily and got out of bed, ignoring the pain shooting through his leg as he opened the door to her.

"Hey," he greeted her informally, too tired from his injury and the day's occurrences. "What's wrong?"

"I apologize if this is a bad time, but I was wondering if you knew a particular piece of information behind the Twilight War," she said quickly. Generals collected information on the enemy's casualties, didn't they?

Ganondorf seemed a bit irritated, but nodded. "What's your question?"

"Well, I realized this evening that I have never truly been informed of the number of casualties Hyrule sustained during Zant's takeover," she began, leaving the statement open ended for the king to fill in.

"Including only Hylian Hyrulians, or everyone?"

"Aside from the Zora Queen, I was unaware that any non-Hylians were killed."

"Yeah." He glared at her a bit. "Somewhere around a thousand Hylians, thirty outer villagers, ninety Gorons, fifty Zora…" He shook his head. "I don't remember all of them. They covered the continent."

Zelda sucked in a breath. "So many dead."

"And even more unaccounted for," he added. The princess bit her lip before continuing.

"The worst part is that a good majority of the bodies unaccounted for… they were people transformed into monsters. Monsters that Link had to kill, knowing full well where they came from." She shuddered.

"I don't doubt that he has had nightmares because of it. A guilt-ridden heart, one could say." He spoke softly, thinking more for those dead. He could care less about the Hero's state of mind, though the idea of Link regretting his quest entertained him.

"Yes, he does," Zelda replied mournfully. "He hates to think that in his quest to save the world, he was forced to kill many of those whom he fought for. Especially since he did not even have the distance of a sword to put between himself and their death. It tortured him for some time, and still troubles him to this day." There was a long silence between them, filled with things unsaid.

"I'm sorry," Ganondorf finally came out. "I wish I could have stopped it."

Zelda's eyes flickered downward. "No, I understand. You were a passenger to Ganon, going along with whatever his whims were. You may never have tried to stop them, but at the same time it seems that you knew his pleasure in the carnage was separate from your horror and had a desperate wish to regain control of your own body."

The king sighed. "Anything else?" He laid his head back in a mixture of pain and exhaustion.

"No. Yes; are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you certain?" she challenged. "Have you healed yet from being stripped of Ganon?" She eyed him carefully.

"I am far from stupid, you know. You have been acting in pain for some time now."

"I'm fixing it on my own. You don't have to know about it." She sighed and rolled her eyes a little bit.

"Males," she muttered disapprovingly beneath her breath.

Ganondorf seemed taken aback. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that all men are stubborn and masochistic." Zelda broke out with a faint smirk.

"I am most certainly neither of those things." He glared at her. "I'm simply taking care of myself. I do not require any further help from you." Zelda tossed both of her arms up in a position of surrender.

"Fine. However, a friendly reminder that I possess healing magic." She wiggled her fingers for a moment before bringing them back down to her sides and stepping back from the door a little bit. Ganondorf was silent, watching her.

"It harms you," he whispered. "I can survive on red poition."

"What?" She turned her head, and her body followed. "Healing magic does not hurt me. It merely makes me tired, just as any sort of exertion would. It is no trouble to me to use it." Ganondorf rubbed his leg.

"I cannot say the same." The pain of the magic was astonishing.

"Red potion is not painless either. Nor is it as effective," she countered.

"How would you know whether or not red potion is effective?"

"Link," she replied simply. "He consumed more than his fair share while saving the world from Zant's tyranny." He scanned her eyes carefully.

"Alright. Just do it quickly, please." He guided her inside of his bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed uneasily. Even if he doubted she could kill someone in cold blood, she still possessed more than enough power to do so. He did not have a clue what was going on in that mind of hers. Zelda sat beside him on the bed and reached her hand out to his knee. When it brushed Ganondorf's thigh, her fingers were already warm with the healing magic.

"Of course."

Ganondorf immediately tensed, his breathing shortening and speeding up. He looked away and bit the corner of his lip, trying to endure the progressively greater pain without showing a sign of his agony. She surprised him—the whole situation felt a bit awkward even to him, and she sat as calmly as a cucumber.

"Tell me if it gets to be too much," she told him, maintaining a steady flow of the magic on his leg. She took care to restrict its reach, leaving the full extent of her magic to work on healing his leg alone.

"Why does this have to be so painful?" He shut his eyes tightly and groaned. He could feel the wound slowly closing, but it hurt.

Zelda grimaced. "I do not know. I believe that it may be this way because healing magic is in defiance of nature's law. Nayru's gifts battling her structure in this world." She shrugged as Ganondorf pulled his knee away from her tough.

"Stop for a second." He waited for the throbbing in his leg to cease. Zelda lifted her hand away. "You've known the boy, Link, for longer. I imagine he has received similar treatment. I almost feel sorry for him having to go through this as much as I have. Though it may cause me more pain, what with my body being so accustomed to dark magic."

"Actually, he only called upon me to heal him a few times. One was when I first met him and his body was still recovering from the transformation into a beast, and then twice after his battles with yo—Ganon." Ganondorf watched her hand, then her lips.

"I suppose we're even, Link and I. He had to kill people to save your world, and I have to allow painful magic to save my leg. Equal pain. Different, but equal." Perhaps even some of the same pain in the heart as well. Both of them wanted to protect Zelda so desperately, and yet each of them thought she needed protection from the other. He was silent for a moment before reluctantly stretching his leg back out. Zelda reached over and gently settled her fingers back on to his leg.

"Ganon has ruined all of us."


	8. VII

Ganondorf was the first to wake up I the morning. It wasn't more than a half hour earlier than he normally woke, and when he ambled past Zelda's room he was surprised to find her door still closed. He didn't knock before quietly opening her door, not wanting to wake her up. She was wiped out from the magic. The king sighed softly and closed the door before leaving the chambers, headed for the dining hall.

He noticed that the conversations quickly hushed when he entered. Their silence continued as he sat down, and Ganondorf grew increasingly suspicious. The meals arrived, but he pushed away his plate.

"Is there something wrong with your food, Your Highness?" the serf asked.

"I don't see any crown. Why are you calling him the highest one here? Obviously it should be Nabooru," one of the fighters sneered. Ganondorf clenched his teeth and met her eyes with a steady glare.

"It's been a while since you've spoken so loudly."

"It's not like you deserve the crown anyway. You'd probably be saving yourself some trouble if you just gave it up," she retorted.

Ganondorf cocked his head and rose from his seat. "You aren't very bright, you know that?"

"Obviously, neither are you." She, too, stood. Her peers were giving their bold friend looks of shock and a little bit of pity as Ganondorf's smirk left his face, replaced by a cold look. They knew what it meant, and it didn't bode too well for her.

"Remind me, when did you attend the academy?" She scowled. Many of the best fighters in the Gerudo clan never received a formal education in book smarts. Other Gerudo, including the guards, were educated, but not the warriors. They were taught to live in the world, survive in the desert, and fight to kill in a battle. Even so, most of them were slightly more intelligent than this.

The woman's face contorted, and for a moment she looked like she wanted to scream at him. Instead, she forced her jaw closed and whipped around to stalk from the dining hall. It was only a moment before the king ambled out as well, eager to avoid any further challenges to his authority.

He left the dining hall and began walking the hallways mindlessly, partially headed to his cathedral with the piano and organ in it. Eventually he made it there. Ganondorf walked down an aisle slowly, finding a seat in the back. His eyes took in the beauty of the room, but soon the throbbing of his leg woke him from his trance. He pulled up his pants leg and watched the blood seep from the wound for a moment. It didn't really hurt. He shook the sleeve loose and continued staring at the massive organ in silence.

An hour passed before he left. He was glad to see that the hallways outside the cathedral were absent of guards despite the anger he'd typically react with at such negligence, and found a window at the end of a hall. He leaned against the wall and watched the Gerudo work on the hard-packed sand down below. He was no king for a country like this. He neither had the knowledge nor the skills to elevate the inhabitants of the harsh desert. His reputation was that of a thief for good reason, so he couldn't even make peace and trade treaties with another land no matter how pleasant he was. And now his people were beginning to turn against him for his incapability.

Ganondorf slid to the ground and sat with his scarred leg out and the other tucked close to him. He should not have been given the chance to grow up, much less be chosen as the king. He had been a weak child. It was Ganon that had stepped in and reshaped his life, made him strong enough to survive a Gerudo upbringing.

Further up the hall, two women stumbled out of a room giggling about their Hylian men. Maybe all he needed to do to make his people happy was follow through with the merge. Maybe that was all they needed. And Zelda was in no position to refuse. In fact, she had technically already accepted.

The king tried to think about marriage to Zelda. In the past, two kingdoms had merged without any sort of wedding at all. He did not wish to be saddled with the duties of Hyrulian royalty—producing children, selecting a council, nor any of Hyrule's absurd celebrations. Yet he also could not have his own people turning against him now or in the future, and the only way to ensure a permanent unification of Hyrule and Jerdana was to marry the princess. That's how he justified it, of course…

He was jerked back to reality when blood dripped upon the floor. It could be that everything he thought was absurd because of his body's struggle. Less blood meant mental exhaustion, no clear thoughts…

His eyes flicked open as he heard footsteps approaching. Perhaps the guards were returning to their posts. Again he closed his eyes and slid his leg over the blood on the floor. It was already mostly unnoticeable considering that he was dressed in black. That was how Zelda found him when her body caught up to the sound of her feet.

"Ganondorf?" she asked when she spotted him sitting on the floor. She walked closer, close enough that she could have rested her hand on one of his shoulders.

"Yes," he replied softly. "Yes, I'm alright." He lifted his eyelids, staring in front of him at nothing in particular. Certainly not at Zelda, whose legs were directly before his eyes. "I wanted to discuss something with you in privacy."

"Certainly." She looked at him carefully, focused on his vacant expression.

He was silent for a moment. "The merge…" He swallowed and sucked in a breath. "What must I do to come to an agreement with you and make it happen immediately."

Zelda merely blinked. "Immediately?"

"I've thought about it more. We don't have to marry, simply agree." His golden eyes fell upon hers, wondering if they would tell him what she thought of either idea. Zelda tilted her head, eyes unreadable.

"May I ask why you have had this sudden change of heart?"

"It would be unfair to you. The whole point is to be fair, right?"

A small, melancholy smile flickered across the princess' face. "Fair is not a privilege monarchs are often granted," she reminded him. "However, to be completely honest, I believe that marrying you instead of someone else would be more than fair." Her only other options were nobles.

It was as if he hadn't heard her. He pulled his gaze away and continued his lost stare. "Hm. It is a privilege, isn't it?"

"Indeed. The privilege to have a fair life, the privilege to be irresponsible, the privilege to choose what is best for ourselves rather than what is good for the kingdom," she mused.

"Yes." His voice was faint, but firm. "Zelda, I could protect you from having to go through formal dinners with suitors in every seat. I could keep you from being forced into something just to produce an heir. I could even…" He paused, trying to think of something positive for her. He had to assure her that it was a good idea, even if he wasn't so sure why he wanted her to believe in it. She said both were fair; maybe he was only afraid of making her miserable one way or the other. "Even…"

"If I agree to the merge, it is expected that I marry you as well. After all, there cannot be two kings in Hyrule. It is the only way to ensure a permanent, solid bond between Hyrule and Jerdana—to ensure that one cannot exist separate from the other any longer. However, if I choose to not to go through with the merge and a marriage, not only will I later be forced into a relationship I do not want, but I may also gain an enemy. And that, I do not want."

Everything about her was logical, wasn't it? Ganondorf looked into her icy blue eyes and nodded subtly. "You're right," he whispered before crumpling.

"Ganondorf!" She dropped to her knees at his side in concern, brushing her hands over nearly every inch of his body to try and find out what was wrong with him. It wasn't long before her hand brushed a warm, sticky spot on the king's leg and came away red. She quickly shoved back his pant leg to expose the gouge on his leg. He was like a broken dam—the moment she sealed one hole in him, a new one appeared. She put both hands on his leg, one on either side of the cut, and pushed healing magic through her hands once again. Zelda only began breathing again when the king's eyes opened a few minutes later.

"I'm… on the floor?"

"You collapsed."

He pushed himself back against the wall to sit up straighter and gave her an empty smile. "Why do you keep helping me? This was not a wound you inflicted."

"It was not?"

Ganondorf sighed and looked away. "I need your decision soon. I believe you were more correct than you realized or I wanted to believe. The Gerudo do not see me as their king any more, it would seem." Zelda looked down at the cut again, then at the floor.

"I am sorry. That is very unfortunate. Do you think that a unification will settle their discontent?"

He was silent. He wasn't sure. He didn't have all the answers. "I'm hoping I'll earn some respect for accomplishing what the Gerudo have wanted to do for the last few centuries. Plus, they'll have a queen then. If I am assasainated, they'll still have someone capable to lead them." The princess nodded.

"Indeed," she said quietly. He waited for her response, her answer, but realized she wasn't going to give it just yet.

"Well." He pushed himself to his feet. "I am going to the kitchen. I haven't eaten in a while." He strode past her briskly, his emotions beginning to push him around. He still didn't know these feelings, and he didn't exactly want to become more familiar with them and the pain that came right behind them. Zelda followed him.

"Perhaps after you eat, I can finally repay you for trying to teach me how to use the magic table," she suggested. He didn't slow, letting her keep up with his long strides.

"You've repaid me plenty already. You've healed me thrice." When she had nothing to say in response, he walked faster, moving past the dining hall and into the kitchen. It was empty but for the two of them.

The princess persisted. "Fine. What if I wish to repay you further?"

He rummaged through the pots and pans, pulling out a skillet and glancing at her to acknowledge her words. "What did you have in mind?" he asked, continuing to prepare ingredients to sear vegetables. Zelda grinned impishly as she leaned against the countertop, pleased that he'd accepted.

"Archery."

Ganondorf paused and looked up at her. "Archery," he repeated incredulously. She bobbed her head.

"Yes."

"And when could I begin this lesson?" he smirked at her before he lit the stovetop and started putting together the ingredients he'd prepared. Zelda shrugged.

"After you eat, I suppose. Your women seem well-trained in every variation of combat, so I assume that you have an archery range somewhere within this compound." He nodded slowly and the princess turned her attention to his actions with the food. "I did not know that you could cook." She pushed herself away from where she leaned against the counter to come stand directly beside Ganondorf and watch.

"Why wouldn't I know how to cook? Everyone should." Zelda made a small huffing sound.

"I only wish that were the case. Unfortunatley, it is not deemed appropriate for a princess to learn the culinary arts when she has a slew of talented cooks at her beck and call for even a midnight snack." Ganondorf almost smiled.

"Perhaps I could teach you how to cook in return for the archery and healing."

"That seems perfect." Her mind drifted back to the last time she had cooked. After managing to sneak down in to the kitchens without anyone knowing late one night, she had used a recipe book to concoct pancake batter. Unfortunately, she turned out to be terrible at it and the resulting chunky mass burned the moment it touched the pan. A group of servants armed with buckets of water had appeared at the smell of smoke and proceeded to douse both the flames and the Princess, then scurry away for fear of being executed for getting her soaking wet.

Ganondorf stepped away from the stove, covering the flame further and handing her the fork. "Turn the vegetables to get them crisped on the edges without rubbing off the seasoning."

"Wait, what? How am I supposed to do that?"

He sighed a little and stepped behind her, gently taking her hands in his. "Slip the fork underneath," he said, guiding her hands to do as he said while he spoke, "and roll it with a twist of your wrist. Then press it against the pan again to get it crisped." His voice was smooth, only inches from her ear. "See?" She nodded.

"Yes, I believe that I do." She pulled her away from his to try the process on another vegetable. He stepped away from her to watch.

"Cooking isn't all that hard as long as you're following the recipe." Her movements were not nearly as precise or confident as they had been with Ganondorf's hands, but she did manage to successfully flip one over.

Zelda chuckled beneath her breath. "That is not entirely true," she corrected him. "I have only cooked twice in my life, and both times the food ended up on fire despite my following the recipe perfectly." She laughed again, even pulling a bit of a smile from the king as she flipped another vegetable with a victorious grin.

"Good. Quick learner." She suddenly became solemn.

"Did you know that my father was the last person to tell me that?"

Her statement had caught him a little off-guard. He nodded slowly. "Well, you're father was right." He sighed and stopped fueling the stovetop before taking the pan from her and pushing it on to a different heater. "I am… sorry that I'm holding you here away from your friends."

She turned her head to look at him. "What friends?"

He opened his mouth, but couldn't think of what to say. "I'm sure you must…" Zelda shook her head, a small smile on her face over his bewilderment.

"None to speak of."

"You're the princess of Hyrule! Men and women title you so many wonderful things… What about Link?" He was confused. He imagined this lack of friends would be upsetting for her, but she seemed to be handling it calmly. She was barely even sad at all.

"I have Link, that is true," she admitted. "He is a recent addition to my life, however. Until a few months ago I was completely companionless. I used to dress informally and go down to Castle Town in disguise regularly, but I never allowed myself to become close to anyone there for fear of being exposed as the Princess. The court, of course, insists that they are all my friends, but they are all too stuffy for me to regard them as anything more than acquaintances." She absentmindedly twirled the fork in her fingers. Elliot was there, too, but he was really more of an ally against the council than a true friend. "Link is… my only friend, really." She smiled, but then stopped for a moment. She tilted her head. "Are we friends?" she asked. "I do not mean to imply that I believe we are not friends," she added quickly, "I just genuinely could not say what the nature of a normal friend even is."

He looked into her eyes for a moment. "Yes, we are friends." He managed a small smile. He couldn't break her heart by telling her they were much more than that, especially considering that he had no idea either. He swallowed and nodded again. "Perhaps I should be arranging a visit soon, hm?"

Link… "That would be wonderful."

"He must come here to visit. I'll let him stay a night. I can arrange it for dinner, if you'd like." His eyes darkened a little bit at the thought, but she needed this. It didn't matter that the boy was his enemy in so many ways.

Zelda lifted her hand in front of Ganondorf's face and snapped her fingers sharply in a rare moment of informality. "Hey. Link was not your enemy any more than I. We were _Ganon's_ adversaries, obstacles in his path toward the Triforce."

She didn't understand. "Yeah, I know." He snatched the fork from her hand and stabbed a cauliflower, eating it and ending the conversation to avoid hearing anymore of her input on that kid.

The Princess made a face of disapproval. With her fingers, she reached in and grabbed a piece of zucchini from the mix. She blew on it to cool it off before popping it into her mouth. "Mmm." Ganondorf lightened up and popped another vegetable. He had gotten the spicing just right.

"Not too bad, is it?" He poked another piece and examined it for a moment. "You did a good job."

"I only did a few of them."

"And you did a good job," he repeated, cracking a smile at her before offering her the piece. "I'll send a messenger to bring Link back so he can be here by dinner.

She smiled, surprise in her eyes. "You would do that?"

Ganondorf nodded reluctantly. "You deserve some normalcy, whether you're faking your kindness or not." Zelda gave him a sidelong glance before responding.

"Well, whether or not I am faking it, I appreciate the gesture. I can tell you still feel deep resentment toward him."

He turned away without replying. "I'll go take care of that now." He left the kitchen without speaking another word to Zelda. She watched him go with an expression halfway between a frown and a face of confusion. After a moment staring at the vacant door, she shook herself back to awareness. It took a fair amount of searching, but she was eventually able to locate a small bowl to put the remaining vetegables in. When she swept them into the bowl and dumped the fork and pan in the sink, she left the kitchen and made her way to a nearby window. She leaned her head out and scanned the ground below, looking for the archery area she knew had to be located somewhere.

When Ganondorf got to the throne room, he froze in his tracks. Nabooru lounged in his throne, legs kicked over the arm.

"Hello, Ganondorf," she sneered up at him.

"Hello," he returned pleasantly, refusing to let her bother him. "Get out of my chair." She bit her lip and smiled.

"Ooh, but it's so comfy."

"Look," he said with a glare, "I need you to do me a favor." Nabooru abandoned her game.

"What?"

"I need you to take a hotblood to Hyrule and bring Link here. He can know that I've decided to grant him a visit with the princess to reassure him that she is safe." She narrowed her eyes and rose slowly from the chair, walking toward him slowly with her hips swaying in typical Gerudo fashion.

"What do I get in return?" she purred. Ganondorf watched her speechlessly, clearly unsure of how he should answer her. "Do I… get a prize?" Her fingers brushed against his hands.

"I'd prefer if you left now." His voice was flat, but commanding.

Nabooru giggled and poked his chest. "I'll take that as a maybe." She whirled and danced away, prancing out the main doors just as Zelda turned the corner to come into them.

"Good afternoon, Nabooru." The Gerudo smirked and nodded.

"Princess." She seemed pleased to meet her, and it could only be because she was on her way to retrieve Zelda's closest friend. He would distract her and keep her busy, leaving Nabooru alone with Ganondorf. "I'm sure you must be ecstatic to see your Hero."

Zelda sighed a little. "I am. Unfortunately, I am also afraid that the atmosphere will be far too tense for me to enjoy it much," she admitted. "Ganondorf is being incredibly humble and considerate in inviting Link here, but that does not mean that either of them enjoys being in close proximity of the other." She ran her thumb along the contour of the bowl, enjoying the smooth texture of it underneath her thumb. So like Hyrule in a land filled with coarseness and sharp angles.

"Maybe I could get him away from you two for a while, make it a lil' more comfortable," Nabooru suggested with a shrug. She seemed so honest. Zelda lightened a bit.

"You would do that? Thank you. I believe that might actually be quite helpful. It would give me a chance to explain everything to Link without seeming like I was forced into it or something." She nodded.

"I hope Ganondorf's been treating you well. He's pretty difficult to read sometimes. Anyway, I'll be back with Link before dinner." She grinned and passed the princess by, continuing on her way toward the stables. With a lighter heart, Zelda finished her route to the throne room where Ganondorf had been left behind. He was just moving to sit in his throne when she came in.

"Hey."

"Hello," she said, stepping all the way in. "Are you ready for archery?" Ganondorf glanced off to the side and nodded a little.

"I just need to get us two bows."

"I could try making us some," she suggested. He shook his head and turned away.

"No, my own have well-made bows we can borrow much more quickly than making new ones. I assume Nabooru will be returning from the east, so I'll take two Western Guards off duty." Zelda nodded placidly, walking closer to him and the throne.

"Vegetable?" She held the bowl out to him.

He looked down at her and smiled a little. "No thank you. I'll be fine for a while. But let's go, hm?"

"Certainly." She put the vegetables down on the seat of the throne and followed the king out. "Where is this archery range of yours? I assumed it existed, but I have never seen it while looking out of any windows," she asked as she came to walk alongside him.

"It's further back, not accessible by any windows for a reason." He took a deep breath of the sandy air as they stepped outside the palace doors.

Zelda smiled. "Archers in training?" she guessed. She had to lift a hand to shade her eyes once they left the palace, and even then she found herself squinting against the bright desert sand. "It is so harsh out here," she muttered, mostly grumbling herself but speaking loud enough to be heard in the quiet afternoon.

Ganondorf glanced down at her and shrugged a little as he walked. "You get used to it."

Finally they made it to the training grounds and called for weapons. The three guards there ambled over from their posts and approached the king. "I need two weapons." Two of them handed him theirs, as well as the quivers strapped at their hips. He handed one of each to Zelda, then continued walking forward with the princess by his side. "Forgive me if the arrows aren't as great in quality as you were hoping. They are fire arrows."

He stopped once they reached an empty area with three different rows of targets. "Well...?"

"Like so." She bent down and grabbed an arrow from the quiver, nocked it in her bow, raised it, and drew back the string in a single fluid movement. She took a little over a second to aim at the nearest target before firing the arrow. It landed square in the center of the target, very nearly a bullseye. The arrow had not stopped quivering from the impact when the princess lowered her bow and glanced at the king with a small, satisfied smirk. His eyes were slightly widened when he returned her glance.

"You're good. Better than my best."

She smiled broadly now. "Thank you. When there is little else for you to do for entertainment, you become rather skilled." She slipped her bow over her head to store it. "Now, nock an arrow and draw."

They ended up shooting for hours, Zelda landing at least a full quiver directly in the center of the targets and helping Ganondorf to readjust his position. He wasn't an awful archer, but he certainly improved in their time together. Before too long, however, Zelda became antsy.

"When will Link arrive?" she asked genially. Ganondorf's smile fell from his face.

"It should be soon. It only takes a few hours to travel to Hyrule and back on a hotblood." He picked up his quiver. "I'm heading back to discuss a few things with the serfs about his stay. Are you going to stay and practice for a while?"

She nodded. "Yes, I believe so. It has been far too long since I was able to do this sort of thing."

Ganondorf left her to her own devices, trusting that she wouldn't hurt herself. Not when she had proven to be quite proficient with a bow over the last few hours. He called a serf as soon as he entered his throne room. He was going to clean up for the arrival of the Hero, and he wanted her to prepare for him his crown.

* * *

**_AN: A short chapter, but cropped for the buildup of the next one. Lots of stuff happens in the next chapter, and the story really picks up after that, so be prepared for some turbulence. _**


	9. VIII

It was either a setup or a game, that much Link knew. But given the chance to see Zelda again, he had to do it. He had to know that she was okay. The Hero was dressed down to his undershirt and pants, the heat of the desert making him sweat. It was much cooler down on the mesa, where the breeze from Lake Hylia still cast an occasional whiff of cool air over the sand. Here it was stagnant, dry-baked air that sucked the breath from his lungs. Finally, he and Nabooru reached the palace. It looked old, with its worn grey stones and terraced appearance with newer buildings and colorful tents scattered around it. It was nothing like Hyrule.

When he jumped off the horse, Link was quickly guided into the throne room. Ganondorf was waiting for him. Their gazes locked the second he was in view, a smirk on his lips.

"Nabooru, you're late," the king grumbled. She rolled her eyes.

"It oughta be good for something, hm?" She winked at Ganondorf from behind Link's back before turning and sashaying away to get the Princess. Ganondorf lifted his chin to the boy in a momentary gesture of respect.

"I see you made it here unharmed. Was your trip pleasant?"

Link nodded. "It was fine. Where's Princess Zelda?"

"Nabooru is fetching her." The Hero narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to the king.

"Where is she being kept? Does she eat? Sleep? Are you even allowing her that?"

"She sleeps in her own room in this castle, connected my royal chambers. She eats just as well as the rest of us and would be the last one here to go without a meal—starving having always been her personal first choice. If she were to go hungry, we would too. She is being treated _very_ well, I assure you."

As if summoned, Zelda stepped through the doors of the throne room at his words. She looked tired and a little dirty, especially around her ankles where sweat made the sand stick and darken, but she did not seem unhappy in the least. She grinned when her eyes landed on Link.

"Link!" she greeted him happily, picking up the pace of her stride to reach him more quickly. Link smiled, recognizing the voice, but his face went blank when he turned to see her.

"Oh, hello." He bowed his head. Did he know this Gerudo? Why was she so… dirty?

Zelda smiled faintly. "So, this is the Gerudo palace," she said casually. She took a few steps closer and looked into Link's eyes as she did so. They were not laced with fear this time, but she recognized in his expression the same confusion from when she'd found him imprisoned. Whas he simply confused about her clothing? Or did he not recognize her at all?! Link nodded and swallowed, assuming she was some sort of tour guide.

"Yes, I see that."

Ganondorf decided not to help him out. Zelda shot him a look over Link's shoulder. Had he done something? He only shrugged in response, an amused smile forming on his lips.

"Link," Zelda said, now standing close enough to the young man that she could reach out and touch him, "do you not… recognize me?" Link turned his head and lifted a brow.

"Perhaps a friend of Nabooru's?" He blanched. "Don't tell me you're one of those girls who did things to me." Ganondorf seemed close to cracking up.

"I—no." She seemed rather flustered. Anonymity was great when she wanted it, but suddenly one of her only friends was incapable of recognizing her. "I am the princess. Princess Zelda." Link cracked a bit of a smile at Ganondorf.

"Ganondorf, this is pathetic." The king only laughed, and Link began to realize his mistake. "P-Princess?! Was he putting you to work?!" He turned to face Ganondorf, waiting for her word. He would shred him to pieces with his bare hands. Zelda stepped forward, barring Link's charge toward the king and putting her hands on his shoulders to hold him in place.

"He was not working me at all. I was using the archery range the Gerudo have for training."

He eyed her for a moment. "You look terrible," he said bluntly. She glanced down at her dirty legs.

"I am a mess, indeed."

Nabooru shrugged as she stepped up behind Ganondorf, suddenly appearing where she hadn't been before. "Shall we go and eat dinner?" she asked, directing her words toward Ganondorf but meaning them for everyone. "We are already late, my Lord." He nodded absently.

"Of course. Shall we?"

Link narrowed his eyes at the king again and offered Zelda his hand. He looked much healthier, still covered in bruises and bandages underneath his clothing, but his skin was fuller and his eyes were bright. Zelda took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the dining room. It was empty but for the four of them; Nabooru must have arranged something for them. The Gerudo stayed with her king, sitting down beside him opposite the princess. Both the men tried to be the most proper and polite they could be, setting napkins in their laps and sitting with their elbows far away from the table. They continued casting one another assertive looks, and Link in particular made it a point to look at Zelda very frequently.

"So, Link, how is Telma?" Zelda began, trying to break the thick atmosphere of the room.

"Well, she's more tired than usual. It's my fault, really, for keeping her up when I was having troubles… Business is booming, so I tried to help her wherever I could as soon as I could walk again." There was another long stretch of silence. "How has it been here?"

She hesitated, debating between telling him the whole truth or only the basics. Neither would please him, in the end. "Actually, quite pleasant. I have had no mistreatment from anyone."

Link glanced at the king, who was pretending to mind his own business while he listened carefully. "I find that hard to believe." Ganondorf cast him a sardonic grin. Link sighed and forced a decent smile.

"I wanted to speak with you about something, Link," the princess continued, shoving her chair back from the table with her feet.

Nabooru perked up a little and stopped her. "No, no, no, you two stay here to catch up. Ganondorf and I will go eat in his room." She shot out of her seat. Ganondorf glared at her, but sighed and stood up.

"Go right ahead." He picked up their plates and left, heading upstairs.

Link assumed the worst and stared at Zelda, his expression grim again. "Zelda," he began softly, "what did he do to you?" What reason could she have for wanting everyone else to leave if he hadn't stepped way outside the boundaries of morality. He knew the Gerudo were promiscuous, but she had to have refused him first…

Zelda blinked. "Nothing. Ganon is gone, Link."

Once Ganondorf and Nabooru reached his chambers, the king set their plates down on the small woden table and took his seat. Nabooru sat beside him and slid her plate closer.

"You seem a little tense. His visit really upsets you, huh?"

"Hm?" He looked up and processed the question before nodding a little. "He's not exactly a non-threat while he's here." She nodded in reply.

"You know, the guards are on high alert. You shouldn't be too concerned for her."

Ganondorf grumbled quietly. "You know that's not the only reason."

"Well," she shrugged, "if he says anything bad, have his transfer home dump him in a harsh part of the desert." She smirked. "Problem solved."

"I can't."

"What do you mean?"

"She and he are very good friends. Her only friend." He started to eat, staring at the food as he chewed and swallowed.

"Kind've like us?" Nabooru smiled. Ganondorf cracked a smirk as well, returning the gaze.

"We are far from friends, Nabooru."

"Yeah," she replied quietly. "I know." The king stood slowly, suddenly wary of her actions.

"Nabooru," he laughed a little, his voice gently warning before clearing his throat. "Not now. We should enjoy the meat." Nabooru stood with him and stepped closer, pressing her palm gently against his chest.

"Yes, we should."

She grabbed his hand and slowly backed into his bedroom, pulling him along. He went reluctantly at first. "There is a better time, another time." He spoke quietly before he was cut off. She playfully trapped him against the wall and planted soft, sweet kisses on his neck. He instinctively tilted his head up for her a little.

"I brought the Hero here. Where's my reward?"

"You get none. You were late. Maybe later," he whispered, secretly pleased with her attention.

"But at least I brought him at all. Your other girls would be reluctant, no?" Her hand glided down his stomach.

"Perhaps…" He grabbed her chin and pressed his lips against hers, drawing a small giggle from her "…a small prize." He whispered in between kisses before letting her fall into the bed. He hovered over her as he kissed her. A smirk crossed his lips when she switched, rolling on top of him and licking his lips slowly.

"You like?" she whispered before kissing him deeper, slipping her tongue inside of his mouth. The king slid his hands down and tampered at her waistband teasingly as she slipped her hand underneath his shirt, running her fingers along his muscles. At this, he ignored her waist to sneak his thumbs underneath the edges of her shirt, sliding it up. She sat up to quickly toss it off before returning to kissing him again, slowly lifting his shirt as well. He raised his arms and helped, letting it slip to the side before running his hands up and down her sides slowly.

His face didn't change. "Doesn't mean Ganondorf wouldn't do anything to hurt you. I can't believe you're in the same chambers as him—do you have any idea what the council would say?"

"The _council_," she retorted, her voice resentful, "knows almost nothing. How do you think Zant got into Hyrule even after the warning the Sages gave me about a building darkness?" Link bit his lip.

"It's still incredibly inappropriate. There's nothing stopping him."

She sighed. "I know. I have been painfully aware of it since I was first brought here. However, he has done nothing of the sort. I am inclined to trust that he will not in the future, either."

"Don't ever let your guard down, even if he's not around. Promise me."

He stuck out his pinky finger, a friend's gesture. The Princess rolled her eyes but stuck out her own finger anyway. "I never have." She hooked her finger around his and tugged on it, sealing the deal. "What I mentioned before, though, about Ganon being gone, it was not a metaphorical statement. The man you fought in the Twilight War and the man we eat dinner with tonight are different people."

Link rolled his own eyes. "You're kidding. He's got to be tricking you. I swear he's the same demon I fought, even if he is just a man now. He still has his powers." She shook her head, however.

"His Triforce is gone. I checked." He blinked.

"Then where is it?" Zelda shrugged.

"I do not know. I can only assume it left with Ganon and is wherever he lies. As far as Ganondorf's reputation goes, I believe in giving everyone a second chance, especially if they seem as if they deserve it. I thought that you believed the same thing." He sighed and bobbed his head.

"Yeah, I do. It's just… what he was, it's difficult to get past that." He finished his plate and pushed it to the side. "Their food is a little bland."

"I understand that. And yes, it is. In the century or so that Ganondorf was imprisoned in the Twilight, the Gerudo lost nearly all of their trade with neighboring countries, including Hyrule. As a result, they have few delicacies like seasonings or meat," she explained, giving Link a bit of a severe look as she did. He had to understand.

Link wiped his face with the napkin and sipped at his water. "Why Hyrule?"

She shrugged. "You could probably guess as much as I. Not only is Hyrule the most powerful nation in the area, but we were recently severely weakened. The Twilight War decimated Hyrule's population and postponed what would have been my coronation. Afterward, not only was I not Queen, but seen as incapable of maintaining proper control over the kingdom. We are very vulnerable right now, Link, far more so than I should like anyone to know. Ganondorf has seen his opportunity, and he has taken it with exceeding tact. I am in no position to refuse him anything," she concluded. "Anyway, that is why I wished to speak with you—so that you understand all that has been happening in your absence and hold no particular hostility toward Ganondorf. With that out of the way, I believe I can go retrieve them so we can all finish our dinner together, yes?"

Zelda stood up from her chair without waiting for a response from Link, wiping her fingers on a napkin to clean them better. After giving his shoulder a brief squeeze of encouragement, she brushed past him and headed for the door. Nabooru had said she and the king would eat in his chambers, so Zelda made her way there. She tapped the door lightly to let them know she would be entering.

Ganondorf didn't hear the sound, too smothered by Nabooru for any noise outside of her to pass his ears. She heard, though, and she ignored it. She didn't stop. She _wanted_ the princess to see that Ganondorf was hers. And then Zelda opened the door.

The two of them were all over each other, one massive tangle of limbs and sexual attraction. And as much as it surprised her and frustrated her to feel that way, the sight made her angry. A possessive instinct suddenly churned with in her. She almost hated herself for feeling it.

"Excuse me," she said sharply, her voice as cold and harsh as a splinter of ice.

Ganondorf flinched and threw Nabooru off of himself, sitting up quickly. Nabooru gasped and glared at him.

"P-Princess… you're here earlier than I expected…" he stammered, a little flushed. What was he supposed to say to her? Nabooru found her shirt and smirked a little at Zelda. The Princess stared at them coldly for a moment, focusing her icy gaze on Ganondorf before wordlessly turning around. She slammed the door behind her as she left. Again, he flinched.

"She looked pretty upset," Nabooru began, still in a purr. "Let's not have you end up the same way, shall we?" She crawled back on top of him, but he pushed her away roughly.

"Enough," he growled. "You should leave." She pretended to look innocent and confused.

"Why?"

"Leave." His voice was louder and deeper this time as he lifted a hand and pointed toward the door. After a curtsey, the woman left the room, managing to slip her top on before she was in the hallway.

Zelda had gone back to her rooms rather than to Link. She couldn't face him, not when she had felt angry that the king was with another woman. She shouldn't care, shouldn't have felt betrayed. He was not a monster any more, but he certainly hadn't sworn fidelity to her. But she finally thought she had found a marriageable man who appreciated her for whom she was, not what she could give them. Someone who was not bound to her by the Triforce or by any other sense of duty, but still wanted and cared for her. She had certainly been wrong. He still respected her more than any other man in power she had encountered, but clearly not enough.

As she sat fuming, battling herself and warring with her own emotions, Link became unsettled. He eventually pushed himself away from the table and set out to find the princess, a vain search leading him to her door. He knocked quietly. "Princess? Is everything okay?"

"Not really," she replied in a monotone. The king had just gained her trust, and now he gallivanted around throwing it away. But did he know she felt betrayed? He had seemed embarrassed, but perhaps he simply didn't understand the way Hylian relationships were supposed to work. Or perhaps he was still unaware, as she had been, that she even cared. Link frowned a little.

"May I come in?"

_White eyes held on to hers without her knowing, stealing her secrets… desires… passions… She was in the palm of his hand. His body was but a mere shadow, hiding in the dusky corners of the room, but she was so weak, so empty and alone._

She did not respond to his question, instead lifting her hand with her palm facing the door. A thin silver outline filled the cracks between the door and its frame, very loosely sealing it shut. A good shove might break the enchantment, but she didn't have the heart or energy to conjure up anything stronger.

"What's wrong?" Link persisted.

"I am serious, you know. Go _away_."

The Hero flinched at the ferocity of her tone. She truly did not want him there at the moment. He waited at the door for a few more seconds, hoping she would change her mind, before he pulled away. A serf pointed him toward his room, and as he explored it and settled in he kept thinking about her. He was utterly mystified by what could have made her so upset. After he had gone, Zelda took down the barrier on the door.

_He sneered and took the opportunity lent by her magic, edging up from behind her and letting himself seep into her soul. She only felt the smallest of chills. The princess did not change at first when Ganon took her body._

Zelda did not sleep well. Her restless, intermittent sleep was peppered with dark flashes of memories and dreams. She found herself briefly reliving the Twilight War: Zant's takeover, meeting Link for the first time in the form of a wolf, sacrificing her own body to save Midna, the countless battles she had watched and fought alongside with Link, the final fight against Ganon, saying goodbye to Midna. She woke up each time with a gasp and tears running down her face.

Even when the morning came, she did not rise from bed. She was too exhausted. Instead, she lay silently in the tangled sheets, staring up at the bare ceiling with a vacant expression on her face.

There was a knock at the door, not Link's gentle tap or Nabooru's heavy pounding, but a firm, resounding trio of knuckles against the door. Ganondorf. He didn't say anything, simply listening for a response of any kind. He did not know why it had upset her so much—it wasn't as if she had shown that she cared for him in the past—and hoped that she would be willing to talk to him about it.

But Zelda did not even move, instead replying to the knock with a small sigh. Ganondorf swallowed down the scoff in his throat; her reaction was ridiculous. Had she never encountered a situation like this before? Was she simply disgusted by their actions?

"I'll bring you something to eat," he sighed before heading downstairs to retrieve some sort of breakfast for the Princess. When he returned with a bowl of fruit, he leaned against the wall beside her door to speak. "You should eat. " His voice was soft, but audible even through the thick door.

"Fine." Her voice came in the same monotone. The door in front of Ganondorf swung open, revealing the princess lying on her back in bed, still in her clothes from the night before.

Why was she using her magic so idly?

The king stepped in. "I brought you some fruit." He pulled up a chair beside her bed, setting the bowl and fork down on the nightstand. "The wind is weak today. You could practice shooting if you'd like."

Zelda shook her head slowly. "No, thank you." She pushed herself into a sitting position and propped up a pillow behind her back, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"So, you and Nabooru…"

"We used to… I didn't want to, really…" He bit his tongue and sighed again. "Zelda, it's not really like that any more. I'm don with her, but she's just so damn persistent."

"It seems to be a defining characteristic of the Gerudo."

"Yes, it is." He glared at her and poked a piece of melon with the fork, holding it close to her face. "Eat." She begrudgingly opened her mouth for him to put the fruit in. He did so, and picked another fruit from the bowl as she chewed.

"We were never a proper couple, but we did occasionally… become intimate. There was always a different reason, but this time I told her no. It was rude timing, and I had actually lost interest in her. Not to say that the other woman I am interested in only gained my lust… well, you could also say that the new woman stole my heart, really." He went quiet, offering her another piece of fruit.

"Why was Nabooru not already your queen?" she asked, refusing the fruit in lieu of speaking.

"Because I don't love her." He gazed at her, wiggling the fork a little to remind her to eat. Zelda lifted her head and actually pushed the fork away from her mouth.

"You certainly looked like you might."

Ganondorf took a breath, trying to calm himself. "I do not love Nabooru, never have. She knows this." The princess raised her eybrows.

"Then please explain to me exactly what I saw last night."

He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came from between his lips. Instead, he whispered to her the only answer he could come up with. "It was nothing. I can't describe it any better." She sighed a little, not satisfied in the least by his answer but understanding that this was the best she was going to get out of him.

"Fine. Is Link here?" Ganondorf was silent for a moment.

"Eat." He offered her the fruit again.

"I am no longer hungry." She kept her lips shut together tightly. That fruit was not entering her mouth. Irritated and finally giving up, Ganondorf sat back in defeat.

"Downstairs, in the dining hall."

Zelda slipped out of bed immediately and began walking to the door of her bedroom. She swept her hand through the air beside her, causing the bed to begin making itself. Then she continued on her way to the dining hall, leaving behind a narrow-eyed Ganondorf alone in her bedroom.

Link sat with Nabooru at the long table, sitting and talking even as the last breakfast group left them alone and returned to their posts.

"I can't believe he'd do that during dinner. And to a random serf?" he was saying as the princess walked up.

"I know," Nabooru lied. "It's disgusting, even for him."

"Don't you think this is upsetting the princess more than it should? She should at least want some comfort." Nabooru shrugged and poked at a berry, stuffing it in her dirty, lying, shit-stained mouth.

"Link," Zelda said as she walked up behind them. She glared at Nabooru briefly, then looked back to the Hero with surprisingly hard eyes. He sort of jumped in his seat, pausing before speaking to avoid sounding too excited.

"Princess, good morning." He stood up out of his seat to pull out a chair for her, even as Nabooru smirked at the princess.

"Thank you, Link," she said stiffly, sitting down. Her eyes settled on Nabooru and looked as if they should have been shooting flames of ice from her pupils. Link was unawares, eyes down as he returned to his seat. "I apologize for leaving you last night. I am afraid that was quite rude of me, especially since you are technically a guest."

"No, no. It was understandable." He glanced up and noticed her expression, following it to Nabooru. For a moment he was mystified, and then a moment of revelation swept over him. _Oh_…

Nabooru straightened up in her seat. "So, Princess, what's Ganondorf up to?"

"I do not know," she replied honestly, her voice not showing the same anger in her gaze. "He was feeding me fruits, but I left." Her words gave Link pause.

"Fruits?"

"You know, he really does regret what he did," Nabooru pouted melodramatically.

"It sure sounds like it," he dismissed, barely even registering what she had said. "Fruits? Directly?" His eyes were wide, trying to picture the Gerudo king doing something like that to Link's Princess.

"With a fork," Zelda corrected flatly. She picked up the utensil at her place setting, forcefully stabbed a small fruit slice from the nearby platter, and popped it into her mouth to demonstrate. Link looked away slowly, a small blush rising in his cheeks.

"Ah, I see."

"So Princess," Nabooru began again, leaning forward against the table with a smirk. "Let's talk about it."

"Talk about what?" she replied sharply. The Gerudo shrugged.

"What made you so upset?"

"I do not know," the Princess responded smoothly after only a moment of hesitation. "I know only that it did make me quite angry."

"It looks to me like that anger might be ugly to the king. I mean, that could be the only reason for him to betray you like that. It's his betrayal that makes you so angry, hm?" She hinted at some sort of knowledge of the princess' inner feelings, trying to dig under her skin. Link sat back, leaning away from the two of them in his chair.

"Should I leave?" he asked.

Zelda clenched her teeth, clearly fighting to keep her temper on a leash. How dare this woman try to irritate her so? "No."

"Yes, Link, stay. I'm sure you're very interested in knowing about the show." She seemed to be able to say or do anything to get what she wanted.

"Actually, I rather think he might prefer not to know," she retorted.

Link looked helplessly at the princess. He hated being trapped like this. "I need to go tend to something," he said abruptly. He stood up.

"Oh, look, you're scaring him off!" Nabooru faked shock. He looked a little alarmed, not wanting to be dragged into their catfight.

"No, no, no, that's not it at all. I have to… fix my room up."

The princess kept her gaze fixed on Nabooru, but a tiny bob of her head told Link that it was okay for him to leave for now. He left the room, rather quickly. Zelda narrowed her eyes at Nabooru. "I _will_ attack you." The Gerudo merely shrugged off the threat.

"With how inconsiderate Ganondorf has been to you, he'd probably lock you in a dungeon for such actions toward his closest friends—or I suppose he and I aren't exactly friends, are we?"

Zelda abruptly stood up, her hands slightly trembling. She could hardly believe that she was getting so angry so easily, but Nabooru _deserved_ her wrath. Her skin, which had before been slightly flushed with emotion, began paling. Her irises, too, seemed to be changing, the indigo blue color of them fading around the edges like wilting leaves.

"What inconsiderateness has Ganondorf shown me in the least?" she hissed. "Giving me my own chambers nearby his? Allowing me to roam freely around the palace? Eating beside me at nearly every meal? Teaching me to cook? Taking me outside and permitting me to shoot a bow and arrow? Allowing me to save him from the demon and heal him afterward when no one else could?" As she spoke, faint, jagged black marks began tracing angular patterns across her skin, looking like dark cracks against her skin.

Nabooru was silent, her wide eyes gazing at the woman before her. No, the creature before her, another union of human and demon. Had the princess simply transferred it to herself to remove it from Ganondorf? A snake-like smile crossed her lips as she realized that Zelda didn't even seem to know that she pulsated with the aura of Ganon.

She wet her lips. "Forgive me… I've been a little out of control lately, maybe jealous of you and the king. It was my fault; I even wanted him to go further, but he resisted. I think it might have been this one small thing I did that even caused him to lose even that little bit… I apologize wholly."

Zelda still looked furious, but she slowly fell back into her chair. As her rage dissipated, so did the paleness and the dead colors in her eyes. Her whole body, in fact, relaxed some, and she placed her hands on the table in front of her as she took a moment to calm down and take deep breaths.

"I appreciate your apology, Nabooru," she answered after a moment. "I cannot forget, but I accept. I, too, am sorry for being so angry with you. I have no claim to Ganondorf, and you violated nothing."

Nabooru nodded again. "I am still deeply sorry. Embarrassed, to be honest. It was completely inappropriate. Hopefully it hasn't ruined the whole visit with Link." She smiled nervously, only half-acting in her submission. The Princess grimaced briefly.

"It may have. How much does he know?"

"Again, to be completely honest with you," Nabooru started, still hesitating. "I lied to him. I told him it was a random serf that you had caught the king with. Though I'm pretty sure he knows I was lying by now." She folded her hands in her lap.

"Most likely. He may not have the most strategically-aligned mind, but Link is not stupid." She leaned forward on to the table. "I think I feel a headache coming on," she grumbled.

Nabooru offered her a glass of water. She knew the pain was from her anger… and from the foreign being tucked away inside of her.

"Did you know that the king has never changed, ever since I was born? People said it was because the demon kept him alive and made him who he was forever, but I never really believed that all the way. I always knew there was a man under that thick skin of his." She smiled a little. "I had a huge crush on him growing up. It has dissipated the more I got to know him, having expected there to be a softer side than what he has always shown us and being disappointed… my mother always used to complain about me rambling on about Lord Ganondorf."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Dissipated?"

"I'm pretty sure I could count the women here on one hand who don't think he's incredibly attractive. He's perfect, well, at least he is in our eyes," she added with a guilty glance at Zelda. "For a lot of us, it's a real shame that he chose you to fall in love with."


End file.
